Season 9 Discussion Thread [NO SPOILERS, DF airings only]

EotD
Magical Inkwell - Wrote MLP fanfiction consisting of at least around 1.5k words, and has a verified link to the platform of their choice
Birthday Cake - Celebrated MLP's 7th birthday
Not a Llama - Happy April Fools Day!

I beat LoZ:BotW!!!
So this Great Seedling can can alter time, speed up the harvest, or teleport ponies off this rock?
 
What I liked:  
Applejack: ie the reasonably responsible adult. She comes off as really good here as she is concerned with the care and planning of this massive project the Apple family is undertaking and is able to give in to some of Apple Blooms desire to capture the seedling while also making sure she gets her work done with a rational that’s understandable. And then when the proof seems more than coincidence she accepts the more unlikely outcome rather than being so stubborn as to not think that it’s utterly impossible and being the overly stuck-in-there-way skeptic.  
Apple Bloom: Still got a nice amount of childhood wonder to her. But really it’s nice to see her and Applejack have some really good sisterly bonding, able to bring out the best in each of them.  
Big Mac: Yeah I can relate. Not to the sleepwalking as the spirit of the forest thing but the working hard bit. And it was nice how he played in the resolution of the story.  
The Great Seedling: Cool idea, playing around with the whole magic of the harvest and Earth pony magic. Wish that this had come up earlier.  
The Camo Hut: Ponies are rather cute in camouflage helmets and the way Applejack fell asleep was funny
 
What I didn’t like:  
Granny Smith: I might be reading to much into this but there seems to be a bit of bad blood between her and Applejack. Like Granny really seems to be annoyed constantly by whatever Applejack does. Like when Applejack doesn’t believe in the Great Seedling she’s annoyed she’s not letting Apple Bloom have her fun, but then when Applejack does she’s still pissed off. And then she doesn’t seem to mind that she left Applejack trapped in a hole for hours and thinks it’s funny when Applejack clearly doesn’t. But it wasn’t like an unreasonable amount and understandable so it wasn’t too bad  
The Timeline: Eeyup that was a cutie markless Applejack with a baby Apple Bloom while both their parents were still alive, so how Apple Bloom is roughly the same age as Diamond Tiara beats me since it was shown in Where the Apple Lies that Filthy Rich and Spoiled Milk weren’t married while Applejack was clearly a few years older.
 
 
So overall I really liked this episode. Sure it’s not some overly energetic “jokes jokes jokes” episode or some “and though he doth received the book of thy Starswirl on the fifth age of the Moon during the long night” lore discussion piece. It’s a nice little piece about Applejack and Apple Bloom that is a good character piece that just explores these characters and I like that. So this might not be the more energetic or lore defining episode of the season but it’s still a very good episode in my books
 
 
Wrote this up in the other one too. Have the previous two episodes as well which I might post here if I feel like it
rdibp
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2018) - Celebrated Derpibooru's six year anniversary with friends.
Birthday Cake - Celebrated MLP's 7th birthday
Not a Llama - Happy April Fools Day!
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2017) - Celebrated Derpibooru's five year anniversary with friends.

Kerfuffle lover
Well it wasn’t Babs Seed coming back like I was hoping for, but still a fun episode regardless.
 
GREAT:
 
  1. Sparkle’s Seven  
  2. Frenemies  
    ————————————————
     
    GOOD:
     
  3. The Beginning of the End  
    4. Going to Seed  
  4. She’s All Yak  
    ————————————————-
     
    OKAY:
     
  5. The Point of No Return  
  6. Sweet and Smoky  
  7. Uprooted  
    ———————————————
     
    AVERAGE:
     
  8. Common Ground
Mr.Myoozik
StarTrix Forever! - Derpi Supporter
Silly Pony - Celebrated the 13th anniversary of MLP:FIM, and 40 years of MLP!
Shimmering Smile - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of Equestria Girls!
Solar Hero - Went above and beyond for the Solar Deity, drawing from the power of the sun itself to bring balance to the fight against the Lunar Insurrection (April Fools 2023).
Flower Trio - Helped others get their OC into the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
Roseluck - Had their OC in the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
King Sombra - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of The Crystal Empire!
A Lovely Nightmare Night - Celebrated the 12th anniversary of MLP:FIM!
Princess of Love - Extra special version for those who participated in the Canterlot Wedding 10th anniversary event by contributing art.
Tree of Harmony - Drew someone's OC for the 2022 Community Collab

Music Connoisseur
I find it a bit odd that the Great Seedling is portrayed as some mythical creature of legends when you consider that the whole universe of MLP is nothing but different mythological creatures. 🤔
 
The episode was a good down to earth one, might rewatch it again.  
Final Ranking: B-
rdibp
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2018) - Celebrated Derpibooru's six year anniversary with friends.
Birthday Cake - Celebrated MLP's 7th birthday
Not a Llama - Happy April Fools Day!
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2017) - Celebrated Derpibooru's five year anniversary with friends.

Kerfuffle lover
@EotD  
Diamond Tiara could’ve just been a bastard. :P
 
@ILoveMyoozik  
Considering AJ’s back story, it made sense why she wanted to push The Great Seedling out of her mind and focus on work.
AWGear
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
Roseluck - Had their OC in the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
A Lovely Nightmare Night - Celebrated the 12th anniversary of MLP:FIM!
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
Ten years of changes - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of MLP:FiM!
An Artist Who Rocks - 100+ images under their artist tag
The Magic of Friendship Grows - For helping others attend the 2020 Community Collab
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2020) - Took part in the 2020 Community Collab

The Devil's Advocate
Welp, time for my weekly review. Keep in mind, I was really hyped for this episode for 2 weeks.  
Well, Did it dissapoint me? Yes, quite alot actually. But still, It was a great Applejack episode and fantastic one over all. I absolutly loved it, as it was alot of fun to watch.
 
With all that said, I wouldn’t be me if I wouldn’t have some complaints. Here we go:
 
  1. Facial Expressions. We have said that week ago, and week before and… you get the idea. Hasbro goes way over the top on them, which doesn’t fit the artstyle. Especially with Apple Bloom at the beguin of the episode, I found them increadibly off. This is a minor con of the episode tough.
     
  2. Apple Parents cameos. Now this what made me so inceadibly hyped up for this episode. I was spoiled with the scene with both Bright Mac and Pear Butter, and I was really happy to see them again. Tough, unsuprisingly, what they did didn’t met my expectations. I didn’t expected them to be the star of the episode again, but I was hopeing for more than a bloody cameo. Limiting Pear Butter to a “scene trasision” should be concidered an offense to the character, especially since this is (probably) the last time we’ll be seeing them in the show. I was hopeing for at least a minute scene happening in the past with them getting a full voice acting. Now, after Going to Seed, I really hope we will see them again, this time with full force. The “fake leak” few days back had a really good idea for an episode with them, and I wish it will come “true” in one way or another.
     
    Now, this are just my 2 minor problems. Besides that, this episode was fantastic. Not “Common Ground” level of Fantastic, but still great joy to see. 8.5/10 (will probably go to the 9/10, when my dissapointment fades out) with additional “Rewatchable” bonus.
     
    Keep it up Hasbro. Keep it up.
AWGear
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
Roseluck - Had their OC in the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
A Lovely Nightmare Night - Celebrated the 12th anniversary of MLP:FIM!
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
Ten years of changes - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of MLP:FiM!
An Artist Who Rocks - 100+ images under their artist tag
The Magic of Friendship Grows - For helping others attend the 2020 Community Collab
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2020) - Took part in the 2020 Community Collab

The Devil's Advocate
I don’t want to ruin the “joy” everyone seems to show off, but there is one more “major” issue with this episode. It messes up with the timeline yet again, as we seen toddler Apple Bloom back in the “Twilight Seven” flashback. We also seen “teenage” big mac and Apple jack there too.
 
This episodes Flashback makes very little sense to exist, as it doesn’t fit the timeline, unless AB was a toddler for few years, which itself makes no sense. :/
Joshua
Duck - Duck cannon at high speed
Silly Pony - Celebrated the 13th anniversary of MLP:FIM, and 40 years of MLP!
Lunar Supporter - Helped forge New Lunar Republic's freedom in the face of the Solar Empire's oppressive tyrannical regime (April Fools 2023).
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Ten years of changes - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of MLP:FiM!
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Perfect Pony Plot Provider - Uploader of 10+ images with 350 upvotes or more (Questionable/Explicit)
Since the Beginning  -

@AWGear  
Eh, don’t worry about it, you aren’t screwing up everyone’s fun saying that. I totally understand if it didn’t make sense to you. I’m just happy we get to see AJ’s parents again.
AWGear
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
Roseluck - Had their OC in the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
A Lovely Nightmare Night - Celebrated the 12th anniversary of MLP:FIM!
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
Ten years of changes - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of MLP:FiM!
An Artist Who Rocks - 100+ images under their artist tag
The Magic of Friendship Grows - For helping others attend the 2020 Community Collab
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2020) - Took part in the 2020 Community Collab

The Devil's Advocate
@rdibp  
It’s not what I am talking about. Between 2 flashbacks, we have seen that AJ and BM went from fillies to Teenagers. Apple Bloom didn’t change as she is a toddler in both of them. It’s where contradiction lies.
 
@Joshua  
I just wish we would get more of them than just a cameo and a screen transision. :c
rdibp
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2018) - Celebrated Derpibooru's six year anniversary with friends.
Birthday Cake - Celebrated MLP's 7th birthday
Not a Llama - Happy April Fools Day!
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2017) - Celebrated Derpibooru's five year anniversary with friends.

Kerfuffle lover
Let me guess, there was a youtube video with Pear Butter in the thumbnail and that’s what everyone was complaining about?
AWGear
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
Roseluck - Had their OC in the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
A Lovely Nightmare Night - Celebrated the 12th anniversary of MLP:FIM!
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
Ten years of changes - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of MLP:FiM!
An Artist Who Rocks - 100+ images under their artist tag
The Magic of Friendship Grows - For helping others attend the 2020 Community Collab
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2020) - Took part in the 2020 Community Collab

The Devil's Advocate
@rdibp  
Actually, no. I got spoiled by the sceen cap on Derpi from early releases, because I forgot to “hide” that episode too
Spinny
Lunar Supporter - Helped forge New Lunar Republic's freedom in the face of the Solar Empire's oppressive tyrannical regime (April Fools 2023).
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Preenhub - We all know what you were up to this evening~
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Wallet After Summer Sale -

Resident Spin Fetishist
Holy crap, a good Applejack episode?!
 
Honestly, I loved it. AJ’s cynicism at the beginning made me eyeroll, since I figured the episode was setting itself up to have her be a stick in the mud for most of the ep just so that she could be proven wrong in the end when its revealed that the Seedling actually does exist. I was pleasantly surprised to find that wasn’t the case and what I got instead was a rather heartfelt sisterly bonding episode. Though I did think she was fairly asshole-ish to instantly accuse Goldie Delicious of being responsible for the apple circles and then later passing all her work onto Big Mac. Also, Big Mac bucking apples in his sleep doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense, especially with him dressing up the the Seedling to do so. Is that something he has a history of doing?
 
That brief flashback with the Apple Parents made me squee in real life. I’ve been dying to see them interact with their children, and even felt that AJ’s flashback in Sparkle’s Seven was a missed opportunity for that. Speaking of which, this episode revealed yet another little nugget from AJ’s past. There is truly no other pony whose past we no more about than Applejack’s. Seriously.
 
Starlight’s absence streak is now up to seven episodes.
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