• To Where and Back Again - Episode Followup (Part 2)


    (Note: Get part 1 here!)

    Hopefully you all weren't too OVERWHELMED with the Trixieness of the first followup. What is followuper to do though when their favorite pony absolutely dominates an entire half of the season finale with his other favorite pony? Could you contain yourself when writing about an episode starring your two favorite ponies?!

    I was actually going to give part two to someone else, but they were all chicken. Finale followups are imposing or something. They fear your vehement rage at saying something wrong about such a big deal of an episode. Luckily I'm used to it after years of being EQD's public punching bag. Rejected fanfic? Seth is a monster. Commenters joked about the size and radius of your mother? Seth's fault. There have been worst things said about me. I can take it.

    Luckily part two had lots of  things other than Trixie to blabber about. Expect this one to be much more serious than the last. In fact, I'll add a poll at the bottom so you can vote on which followup you prefer.

    Anyway, go get LOTS OF SCREENCAPS and important thoughts about cartoon horses below!



    BIAS ASIDE, the first half of this episode was largely a show on Discord and Trixie's battle of wills. It's a dynamic I never thought I'd ever see played out in the show and one that I am beyond happy actually happened. Two largely self centered, new to friendship characters clobbering each other with insults and (some) magic was a great way to build that ex-villian team dynamic.



    We talked about what this might have been a reference to outside of pigs flying,  and decided on Braveheart. Why Braveheart? Because everything involving forest green and checkers is obviously a reference to Braveheart.



    Seriously though, Trixie and Discord are absolutely relentless on each other for the first five and a half minutes and I love it. Who else but the Great and Powerful one could match the god of chaos in one-on-one insults? Only a pony completely oblivious to how cheesy her insults are.  Discord can't even handle the disconnect.

    [Angry boop confirmed for later]



    I need to bring this up again. The backgrounds this season are so beyond incredible. I'm getting nostalgia vybes from early gaming here and i don't even know what game it is.The sweeping staircases, creepy glowing egg sacks, and general feel are just so well done. I couldn't be happier with our first real changeling hive adventure.



    A Boom mic: Never go on a dungeon crawl without one.

    I love her, but she's not the most logical pony on the planet ~



    "That moment Trixie realized she would no longer be a virgin~"



    This entire episode is making me want to resub to an MMORPG or something. This changeling hive would make such an amazing dungeon. Someone on skype just pointed out that this the plot here has a lot of similarities to oldschool pony, where Dungeons and Dragons was the influence. Don't you just want to heroic leap into that swarm and start spamming whirlwind?



    I feel like John de Lancie secretly does standup on the weekends at local clubs. He feels like the type of dude that would be into it.


    Oh boy, here we go...




    Changelings are dicks







    IN THIS SECTION



    WE DISCUSS HOW TERRIBLE THIS RACE IS



    AND HOW EVEN AFTER BEING REDEEMED



    THEY DESERVE TO BE LOCKED UP FOR AN ETERNITY FOR THE CRIME OF BREAKING MILLIONS OF HEARTS. 



    MAY THEIR THEY ROT IN TARTAURUS FOR THE GOOD OF PONIES EVERYWHERE.





    THE NOBLEST MARE IN EQUESTRIA
    Changlings are still dicks





    [Shaking Trixie] - I didn't have time to make a gif~

    Even after being absolutely terrified, shaking like a leaf at the prospect of becoming [kinky] changeling food for the rest of her life, Trixie sucked it up when it mattered most and offered the ultimate sacrifice for the greater good of her BEST friend.



    Using her incredible magician talents, she barreled right into danger against a swarm of hungry changelings.



    May her sacrifice be remember and celebrated by all of Equestria. This single, defining moment in history literally SAVED the world.

    What a hero. What a mare. What a pony we can all look up to.





    END HERO MARE AND DICKISH CHANGELINGS





    God damn that's creepy.



    Almost as creepy as all the data plans I'm going to explode with this 10mb .gif

    I wonder why they removed her voice modulation? That fit so well. We even have tutorials on how to do it in fan animations now. 



    A bit of changeling lore popped up over here. Apparently you can tell one apart just by looking at the gleam of the eyes? Or did we temporarily get a view of what Chrysalis sees?



    That look of desperation is adorable.



    For whatever reason this image makes Glimmy's new haircut seem even more bald.



    Glim ;_;. These changelings are a menace to society.



    I nostalgia'd for some reason here and didn't know why until I brought it up. Apparently I wasn't the only one~

    It's also the most ridiculous life-draining expression ever.



    Queue the required sudden pony ending. We can't have a finale without one!



    I gotta wonder why none of these changelings ever thought to reverse their love suckage just for fun one day. Can you imagine how WTF that would be if Carl randomly exploded in pink light and popped out as one of these in the middle of a super serious changeling meeting? Or does Chrystalis do away with changelings that discover this the second she detects it for the sake of keeping her dictatorship in line?



    Aaannd Thorax got fabulous. I've read a lot of fanfics about Changelings opening "love businesses", I didn't expect it to be that type of club though.*

    *please don't send angry emails.



    "Dude... Luna. We gotta stop getting captured. Ponies are going to start to think we are useless"
    "Whatever, it's not like Hasbro would give us an episode anyway".



    Don't be sad. Take it as a life lesson. You should have waifu'd a less in-demand pony.



    Like Twiggy here. She looks good in wet mane and will nerd out with you on weekends.



    Luna is clearly dropping more hints at a future Luna's School of  Unicorncraft and Wizadry series right? It's going to happen? Just imagine... Castle Archmage Glimmer and her new night-focused mentor founding a school for nocturnal ponies and the yet-to-be explored batpony unicorns. Complete with magic tournaments against Celestia and Twilight's schools, a creepy ancient awakened evil , and a trio of unicorn foals solving mysteries with guidance from Glimmy. Yes indeed. Let me write episode arcs. I have the best ideas always.

    And Trixie is in there too.



    Dat gigantic antler traffic light style changeling magic.



    Touch the pink tube?  You know you want to.



    Ain't a changeling queen in the world who would touch the pink tube bitch. 

    I love knowing we might get more Chrysalis in the future. She's a pretty incredible villain in design and evilness. That being said, I have to wonder why the entire repertoire of Equestria's absolute top tier spellcasters all collectively decided to let her fly away. You would think they'd put a stop to that nonsense right then and there. Considering how easily she was able to take over three entire kingdoms at once. Can you imagine the bounty on the head of someone in real life who could do that?  

    Especially Glimglam. I can't imagine it would be easy to sleep at night knowing a creature like Chrysalis has vowed revenge against you in particular.

    (On a side note from a very reliable section of the rumormill, apparently the original script actually called for her popping some super flashy evil teleportation to escape as opposed to buzzing away. That would have made so much more sense. I wonder why they changed it?)



    "Good news Thorax! Now that you have joined the official Equestrian royals club, you too can enjoy the pleasures of being completely disabled every time someone has a bone to pick with us! Feel free to toss that super-powered magic out the window. You won't be needing it for anything major" 

    You know it's true~ Glimmy is the new world savior until Flurry Hearts toys stop selling and they need a new alicorn... 



    1. Male and female - Check
    2. Spent the entire episode bickering - Check
    3. Made up but still screwing with each other - Check

    If you have watched TV or movies at all, you know where this is going.



    And off they go.

    On a side note, I really was hoping we'd get to see Discord "rip apart reality" at some point in this one. I dream of the day he really unleashes hellfire upon someone messing with his new flutterwaifu.



    Overall, I really enjoyed the finale. I feel like their could have been a bit more buildup to the changeling transformation, but the banter between our temporary band of ex-villain cast was top notch throughout. It was really refreshing to see a new "mane cast" solving a problem.

    Season 6 had it's ups and downs, but for the most part I was plenty entertained. I love the new characters they introduced and Glimmy was a breath of fresh air for the mane 6 dynamic. I know she's not for everyone, and I know she stole a few episodes that could have been dedicated to the usual ponies, but I think there is potential there even for people that aren't too fond of her. It really makes me wonder how they will handle her and the others in season 7. Expect that in Spring!

    Until then, I guess it's back to fandom focus until we get more poni.


    AND MORE TRIXIE

    SAVIOR OF EQUESTRIA

    BRINGS THE SMOKE BOMBS, BOOM MIC, AND SACRIFICIAL MAGICIAN FOR THE GOOD OF ALL.