The Everfree Forest ATTACKS!!!! | My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Season 4 Episode 1 REACTION + Discussion
Added 2024-05-25 03:12:30 +0000 UTC
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Thanks for your answer! π I always appreciate your input to my wall of text π
DeViruZz.eXe
2024-06-03 09:50:28 +0000 UTCWhat a mega super ultra episode!!! This took the show to such insane places both for twilight, the world, tree of harmony friendship, and the history revealed. It literally feels like the show can go literally anywhere. Oh that celestia and twilight connection from early on is crazy!!! She really is a trickster. Yeah it took me a bit to understand everything π but I eventually got it. Flashbacks are always amazing and I love that potion. Man that discord twist was AMAZING!!! I think he was being nefarious and actually didnβt anticipate the seeds not working out until this point. Also love how the tree kept fighting until just now. He really is an amazing trickster villain. The elements of harmony not binding them materially is such a great way to showcase its not dependent on it. Love how they represent it. And the keys I believe bring them Unity in some other way as maybe all the ponies have to go through their own goal and journeys to get the keys. And once everyone has done so despite all the differences and hardships, they all come out the other side. Thatβs what Iβd like to think π Sorry for the late response. This was a long one but know I always appreciate your professional insight and how can you not with this earth shaking episode? The way I watch shows I just like to watch it straight through. Plus editing that with my current set up would be hell π
Ed
2024-06-02 08:06:26 +0000 UTCIn the thrilling two-part premiere of My Little Pony Season 4, "Princess Twilight Sparkle" faces her first major test as a princess. Equestria is plunged into chaos when Princess Celestia and Princess Luna mysteriously disappear, the sun and moon become locked in the sky and the Everfree Forest begins to invade Ponyville, with dark, thorny vines creeping out and causing havoc. Twilight, the only leader left has to lead the Knights and her friends to uncover the truth behind this turn of events which all seem to point towards Discord, the mischievous spirit of chaos. Although he denies direct involvement, his cryptic hints guide the Mane Six towards Zecora, who provides Twilight with a mysterious potion. Activated by alicorn magic, this potion allows Twilight to glimpse into the past and to witness pivotal moments in Equestrian history. Realizing that the Tree of Harmony, a powerful and ancient magical entity, is in danger, Twilight understands that they must return the Elements to the tree despite losing their most powerful artifact which united the mane six and kept Discord in check. This act of selflessness revitalizes the Tree of Harmony, which eradicates the dark vines and restores balance to Equestria. It aΓΆsp brings back Princess Celestia and Princess Luna and produces a mysterious chest with six locks, each requiring a key. We get to see lot's of lore, old mysteries that got resolved and new ones that are coming up, a couple of suspenseful historic flashbacks and a glimpse about which direction this series will go further from here on... - Some further notes/thoughts/facts: - Ho Boy... another Premiere, bear with me, it will get long...again... Meghan McCarthy (co-executive producer and screenwriter of the show) considers the season four premiere to be the second and third parts in a three-part story following Magical Mystery Cure. And i can accept that, because it answered some questions about the direction this show will go from here on. She also stated that there was no room for songs in the Season 4 premiere, when asked if Discord singing "Winter Wrap Up" counted as his singing debut, she replied with a "Nope". π Its also interesting to see Twilight struggle to adapt to the responsibilities that come with her royal status and to her new wings. For the latter she now gets flying lessons from Rainbow Dash to overcome this shortcoming! Thats neat! - Still, if you think about it, the "big finish" which results in Twilight crashing into the ground would normally have killed Rainbow Dash (the last time she got into hospital due to a crashlanding) - but twilight is just fine... - One theory is, that she is partly earthpony now and therefore sturdier than any Pegasus alone can be. - But she is really uncomfortable about the flying business π₯ As an Alicorn Twilight also has now the ability to walk on clouds and is able to "crash" erm... interact with them... π And here is the second Summer Sun Celebration! Since the Pilot here was never mentioned another occurence until now and Celestia talks about how it reminded her of Lunas defeat the whole time - But at the end during the celebration, Celestia tells everypony in her speech now it now represents the return of her sister - that is why some say it must have been one year since then... Also Celestia must have been in real pain every year to be reminded about that and that for a thousand of years... The intro is mostly changed with little easter eggs, and yes the end was completely changed due to the bigger cast and primarily because of Twilights wings - I like the new picture aswell :) I wonder if you recognized the overall better animation quality since Season 1? MLP was so succesful, that the creators got a bigger fund and lesser crunchtimes - the stories told about the first 3 Seasons are... interesting to say the least. Wow, Rarity why are you complaining? You're in one of these murals π And duty calls: Twilight has to celebrate the event without her friends... but Applejack appeases Twilight with their connection through the Elements... - Interesting emphasis on that π Twilight Sparkle: "It's just that the Summer Sun Celebration is what first brought us all together. It just doesn't feel right not getting to spend such a special day with my Ponyville friends." Applejack: "The Summer Sun Celebration may have brought us together, but it's something much bigger that'll always keep us connected. Exhibit A: The six of us are united by the Elements of Harmony. No amount of royal duties is gonna change that. Right, everypony?" So when they had to give them back it was also a lesson about how friendship doesn't depend on such superficial things. It's funny how Twilight's stress phase now gets on another level... she starts to fly unconsciously int the air... π€ I love the interaction between Twilight and Celestia, it's always so gooddamn sweet. Yeah there are occurences where the sun and moon are up in the sky... but i doesn't look as georgeous as it did there... I think the closest you can get is this is: https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-15a5f431916861fd74d291a3c5cd90ec-c because otherwise it is impossible to see the moon, well except during an sun-eclipse, as example here is a "ring of fire"-type of sun-eclipse: https://imagedelivery.net/wKQ19LTSBT0ARz08tkssqQ/www.courthousenews.com/2023/10/annular-eclipse.jpg/w=1280 which has it's own beauty if you ask me π It's nice to see that Twilight got the courage to take over the role as the princess in charge and has to prevent a panic, as the princesses are missing. The first time i heard about "The Everfree Forest" invading, i thought it was an actual entity with an army or something like that... π As Rainbow Dash fought with these strange spiky clouds, there was originally a scene showing how Pinkie Pie dealt with the strange weather patterns aswell. And here spike did the most regretted mistake of his life... telling Twilight that she can fly to ponyville... but hold up, where does the seatbelt come from?! - Wow Twilight, did you just abandon spike by teleporting into the Library? - Luckily Dragons are sturdy π "i need the root of this" XD Wild running Plants and spiky thunderclouds that run amok, uncontrollable magic, everything points to discord... No wonder they accused him. At least Fluttershy gave him the benefit of doubt, again... Discord: "[singing] Winter Wrap Up, Winter Wrap-ooh!" π€£ Discords shenanigans in this episode are peak-content and too hilarious... But he is officially reformed... - well to a degree π Discord: "Well then, it seems we've reached an impasse. I'm telling the truth, but you think I'm lying. What do friends like us do in a situation like this, Princess Twilight?" True words... - Discord has a point when he said the others can learn a lot from Fluttershy. YAY Zecora! And she bought a purple potion... - Btw. it's interesting how Zecora designated the "Dark Magic" of Sombra as "Alicorn magic." - At least it looked the same, but it lacked these eye-swirls it was always accompanied by... maybe this time it was just something else? And now the "potion ex machina" is white... - Lot's of (dirty) jokes were made with this...π€£ It's a Flashback-Kind of Potion. - And we LOVE flashbacks! Especially the whole fight between the two sisters was cool. It was very cinematic, awesome and kinda badass... Did you notice? Celestia didn't attack even once until she had to resort to drastic measures with the "Elements of Harmony"...- That shows, that she was relying to th elements to come up with a good solution until it can resolved in another way. Also, don't worry we all got fooled here at first in thinking that Nightmare Moon is back until Twilight outright said it was in the past while the Elements were shown in their old forms and Twilight had one of them with her in her crown... - I dunno how you missed that to still not connect it until this point right away - They got you real good here... π π Its difficult if your most favoured character has a side/alter-ego to him/her which you don't really like. - but i think it adds some depth, as she has to deal with her past... Discord is having fun while Twilight was in distress... And her friends are concerned about the potion (i would be aswell)... Another Flashback showed discords defeat... - I love how obviously out of place these seeds were that he was eating, but still got disregarded as one of Discords shenanigans. At the third Flashback we get to know about the "Tree of harmony", on which are the sun and the moon, aswell as a big star in the middle surrounded by 5 other elements...this seems oddly familiar, don't you think? (Twilights cutiemark resembles this star and has 5 little stars around it...) - Twilight also recognizes it as her cutie mark. So there is an interesting Theory, about how Twilight has been a student ("pawn") of Celestia all her life. She got guided ("manipulated") by Celestia and maneuvered into this royal role after Celestia has seen Twilights cutie mark at the entrance test which she knew resembled the one main element of the Tree of Harmony "magic"... - Considering the Season 3 finale where Celestia was outright saying she watched Twilight it could be true... Well i am not saying that Celestia did this with nefarious intentions or something like that, but it does seem like she has orchestrated Twilight's rise to royalty - for what end ... well maybe we will see that coming up in the future... π€ So now the "Tree of harmony" held back the Everfree Forrest and controlled it the whole time and stopped the Seeds from growing stronger. "i know we need to face it together"... well said Twilight... until you meet that Cragadile you were unable to escape from and your friends think otherwise because you're a princess now and have to be sheltered - DRAMA BABY! π I can understand both sides... but first, it's a bad idea to turn away the only one who knows what to do about the situation and secondly, she is your friend and very much capable to do things or rely on you as a friend... It shouldn't matter if she is a princess now... It's funny how Discord had to be the one to convince Twilight to go back to her friends in a cryptic way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noC-6AO4S1g - btw. that golden cane with Twilights head was labeled by the fandom as "Twilicane" and was heavily memed on... - just an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOiKxUbNlYY π Twilight is a great leader and can be strong alone, but she is still much stronger with her friends. (Especially this time while her magic is inhibited by the plants) "Take the stairs, silly!" Pinkie being Pinkie Pie π The Tree is in a cave below the "Castle of the two Sisters" where Twilight found the Elements originally and where Celestia and Nightmare Moon were battling earlier. Giving away the "Elements of Harmony", the very things they were brought together by and could keep discord at bay with... - But not the only thing that connects them: "You're right about one thing, Applejack. The Elements of Harmony did bring us together. But it isn't the Elements that will keep us connected. It's our friendship. And it's more important and more powerful than any magic. My new role in Equestria may mean I have to take on new responsibilities, and our friendships may be tested, but it will never, ever be broken." - I liked that statement here very much. The princesses are freed and everything goes back to normal... were it not, for the appearance of the mysterious Box - which seems to need 6 keys to be opened. - There were wild theories about it, but what do you think it contains and how it is opened? Discord is obviously thinking about how this benefits him... but kudos to Fluttershy for recognizing this and putting him on the right track again. π€£ But he reveals a plot-twist, it was him who planted these seeds 1000 years before, but didn't expect that the tree was able to resist them... Discord: "My plunderseeds should have stolen the magic from the Tree of Harmony and captured Princess Celestia and Princess Luna thousands of moons ago. Alas, it seems the tree had enough magic to keep the seeds from growing up big and strong. Until now, that is." Twilight Sparkle: "You realize this is information we could have used hours ago?!" Discord: "And rob you of a valuable lesson about being princess? What kind of friend do you think I am?" - So, what do you think? Were Discords innuendos intentional - Was he truly helping Twilight out of ... well friendship or maybe something else? - It can't be about giving back the elements, because, he was still more or less tame at the end and even agreed to help... Anyway, i loved Discords roundabout way to lead Twilight here π Its a nice new crown twilight is wearing at the festival. Also, a nice change to the meaning of the celebration! Celestia is finally able to forget the pain and look forward into the future. It was Twilights "Sonic-Rainboom" at the end - but i dont think its directly the same... it's more like a magical spell blast, kinda a flashbang with her cutie mark in it. π - But it was obvious, that she could fly better than before. --- This was quite a premiere and introduction to season 4... - we got quite some insight of historic events, how Twilight was involved, learned a lot of the Origins of the elements and a lot to look forward to. Also there's a new kind of meta, which excludes the "Elements of Harmony" and set a new standard for their friendship, which isn't based on superficial things anymore but on the believe in their friendship itself. Another point shown is, that Twilight has responsibilities and is kinda a role-model to others from now on. As you said, it expanded the current established range of possibilities and left room to grow. It had a great pacing, which was somewhat needed after that rushed season 3 finale and as i already told you it was unofficially taken as the 2nd and 3rd episode of the finale to lighten up on things. I love how it all came together, it was full-on with surprises, Luna kinda got a main role here, Discord was as funny and chaotic as ever, the episode had lots of continuity, implications of what-ifs and world-building and i am all-in for that! Thank you as always for your reaction and that you always read all of these. :) π P.S.: I don't mind if you skip the intro in the second part. I also have no problem with it if you pause in between if you have something more to say.
DeViruZz.eXe
2024-05-31 12:49:45 +0000 UTCWhat a start it is indeed!! Such crazy elements that further push the show and even gives it a new life. Yes twilight has a lot to do and to manage. It will be fun and anxiety inducing!
Ed
2024-05-27 07:34:21 +0000 UTCAmazing start to season 4 everyone loved this season premiere, the chest and 6 keys is such an interesting idea to begin this season, twilight has so much to do now sheβs a princess lots of responsibility comes with being a princess in equestria, I look forward to your reactions!
Pinkie_applepie
2024-05-27 02:20:23 +0000 UTC
