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

Mildgyth
Best Pink Pony - For being the first person to reach 50k uploads, managing the site's featured images, and countless other contributions to the site.
Silly Pony - Celebrated the 13th anniversary of MLP:FIM, and 40 years of MLP!
Shimmering Smile - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of Equestria Girls!
Lunar Guardian - Earned a place among the ranks of the most loyal New Lunar Republic soldiers (April Fools 2023).
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.
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
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Senior Moderator
Humata, Hukhta, Hvarshta
The Beginning Of The End:8.7  
Uprooted:9.1  
Twilight’s Seven:9.2  
The Point of No Return:9.4  
Common Ground:9.2  
She’s All Yak:9.0  
Frenemies: 9.3  
Sweet and Smoky:8.2  
Going to Seed:7.0  
Student Counsel:9.4  
The Last Crusade:9.3  
Between Dark and Dawn:9.0  
The Last Laugh:9.5  
2, 4, 6, Greaaat:8.8  
A Trivial Pursuit: 7.5
 
Do these games go all night or something?
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
@ILoveMyoozik
 
I’mma assume that it has been around for a long time and Ponyville just copied the rules wholesale from the normal big city version.
DerpyFast
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
Non-Fungible Trixie -
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2018) - Celebrated Derpibooru's six year anniversary with friends.

I have more points to make after work.
 
The Good  
I really like the concept of the trivia competition for two reasons. It creates a sense of community, and it takes a bunch of disconnected plot points that would only matter to certain characters, and elevates them to facts about the world that anyone might know. This creates that sense of being “lived in” that I keep talking about.
 
Characterization  
Pinkie is a lot of things. But she’s not some stupid child who doesn’t understand the concept of trivia contests. As for Twilight, she should not be this unhinged over something this unimportant. Besides, all the other characters managed to be entertaining without being unhinged lunatics. If you wanted to throw the phrase “idiot ball” or ‘conflict ball” around, this would be the place to do it.
 
Compartmentalizing  
This episode reminded me of “Non-Compete Clause”. Both had terrible characterization, but it was quarantined to just two characters, and everything else was actually kind of great. It wasn’t hard for me to imagine a similar setup, just without the bad characterization. I liked NCC more than this episode, because the stuff with The Student Six was creative and interesting, and there was at least some kind of precedent for the way AJ and RD acted.
 
@ILoveMyoozik  
Thanks, I saw it and went “I’ve found a new avatar!”
Magma_ERuptiOn
Thread Starter - Started a thread with over 100 pages
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Condensed Milk - State-Approved Compensation

I read this shit?
Saw Trivial Pursuit, at first I thought I wasn’t going to be that enamoured with it but by the end I was thinking it had been ok, the episode is definitely fucked up though.
 
  1. Frenemies  
  2. The Beginning of the End  
  3. Between Dark and Dawn  
  4. Sparkle’s Seven  
  5. The Last Laugh  
  6. Common Ground  
  7. Student Counsel  
  8. The Last Crusade  
  9. 2 4 6 Greaaat  
  10. Sweet & Smoky  
  11. A Trivial Pursuit  
  12. Going To Seed  
  13. The Point of No Return  
  14. Uprooted  
  15. She’s All Yak
Candacefan29
Thread Starter - /forums/pony/topics/season-6-episode-discussion
The End wasn't The End - Found a new home after the great exodus of 2012

Go Watch Helluva Boss
Applejack choking on the apple-related question and Granny shaming her was the funniest part. xD Like damn Granny, you be savage as FUK xD
GenericArchangel
Alicorn Squadron - For supporting the site
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
Princess of Love - Extra special version for those who participated in the Canterlot Wedding 10th anniversary event by contributing art.
Artist -
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Preenhub - We all know what you were up to this evening~
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
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My Little Pony - 1992 Edition

Moderator
Free the Tantabus
@MrXemnas1992  
I honestly didn’t get that scene. It seemed to me more like AJ forgot the question than forgot the answer, since she was distracted by Rainbow Dash. I know what they were going for, but it came off weird to me.
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
A more revitalized list:
 
GREAT:
 
  1. Sparkle’s Seven  
  2. Between Dark and Dawn  
  3. Frenemies  
    ––––––––––––––––  
    GOOD:
     
  4. The Beginning of the End  
  5. Going to Seed  
  6. A Trivial Pursuit  
  7. She’s All Yak  
    ———————————  
    OKAY:
     
  8. The Last Laugh  
  9. The Point of No Return  
  10. Student Counsel  
  11. The Last Crusade  
  12. Sweet and Smoky  
    ——————————  
    AVERAGE:
     
  13. Uprooted  
  14. Common Ground  
    —————————––  
    BAD:
     
  15. 2, 4, 6, Greaaat
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
@Mildgyth  
Either way, a lot of those rules just looked silly and counterintuitive.
 
@Background Pony #3E6B  
The Twilighting was way too much for me to handle. Throughout the season, I didn’t mind the faces that they kept pumping out cause some of them I found funny, but this episode was my limit when they kept shooting it out at machine gun rate.
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
@ILoveMyoozik  
A Trivial Pursuit is just such an anomaly of an episode.
 
I agree with pretty much all of the complaints made against it and by all accounts it should be a bad episode, but I just keep finding myself loving it.
 
It’s at least a much more interesting episode than last weeks. :P
cheezedoodle
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Moderator
TagZombie: AC15, Atk +8
Finally got a chance to see A Trivial Pursuit after being busy all day yesterday.
 
Holy shit was that a bunch of silly, low-stakes, gut-busting fun.
 
 
I feel that too often this show’s episodes get evaluated by their contribution to lore, their character development, meta-plot advancement, or other grown-up shit and the fun of an episode is completely overlooked or worse, outright ignored (2, 4, 6, greaat was lacking in that category). An episode like this would have been worshipped and immortalized back in the early days of the fandom.
 
Specific details:  
  • Leave it to Twilight to rules-lawyer her way out of last place. That rulebook needs to be pared down to about 3 pages.  
  • Twilight faictime may have gone slightly overboard into ren & stimpy territory, but as a one-off gag episode with no grand importance to anything else, it was a welcome change of pace to me.  
  • The AJ/RD competition was a nice callback. And that AJ choke…  
  • The team/ship names seem like an amusing wink & nod to the fandom.  
  • Derpy, lol.
     
    It almost seems like this season writers are trying to reinforce that some of the M6’s character flaws are going to be with them for life:  
  • Pinkie’s short attention span and frivolousness  
  • Applejack’s overconfidence and stubbornness  
  • Rainbow’s lack of empathy and self-centeredness  
  • Twilight’s nervous obsessiveness
     
    Fluttershy and Rarity? Well, they haven’t gotten much screentime this season to this point. We’ll see what the future holds.
Mildgyth
Best Pink Pony - For being the first person to reach 50k uploads, managing the site's featured images, and countless other contributions to the site.
Silly Pony - Celebrated the 13th anniversary of MLP:FIM, and 40 years of MLP!
Shimmering Smile - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of Equestria Girls!
Lunar Guardian - Earned a place among the ranks of the most loyal New Lunar Republic soldiers (April Fools 2023).
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.
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Non-Fungible Trixie -

Senior Moderator
Humata, Hukhta, Hvarshta
I feel that too often this show’s episodes get evaluated by their contribution to lore, their character development, meta-plot advancement, or other grown-up shit and the fun of an episode is completely overlooked or worse, outright ignored (2, 4, 6, greaat was lacking in that category). An episode like this would have been worshipped and immortalized back in the early days of the fandom.
Vivace
Lunar Supporter - Helped forge New Lunar Republic's freedom in the face of the Solar Empire's oppressive tyrannical regime (April Fools 2023).
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Artist -

“ShimSham my GlimGlams”
As for Twilight, she should not be this unhinged over something this unimportant.
Considering what’s coming, I’m chalking that up to her apprehension about her impending responsibility manifesting in other facets of her life, and to purging all her freak-outs while she still can.
RogueBadnik
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 -
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Not a Llama - Happy April Fools Day!

⌜Ω⌟
One thing I liked about this episode is how Twilight failed to handle the competitive play over “muh friendship first”, even when she demostrates this moral towards Applejack and RD twice (Fall Weather Friends, Non-Compete Clause).
 
I makes you believe that Twilight, while she may be smart and knows a lot about any topic related to friendship, but when she starts to suffer this “friendship problems” by herself, she inmediately loses her mind. Thats because she never experienced then personally.
 
She may have called out AJ and RD becausr “Competition may hurt your friendship”… but Oh! Since Twilight never experienced a highly competitive event like this one in her entire life, this turned her into a somewhat hipocrite.
GenericArchangel
Alicorn Squadron - For supporting the site
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
Princess of Love - Extra special version for those who participated in the Canterlot Wedding 10th anniversary event by contributing art.
Artist -
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Preenhub - We all know what you were up to this evening~
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
Bronze Supporter - Bronze Supporter
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition

Moderator
Free the Tantabus
@E-123  
On a related note, this episode means that the real lesson from “Non-Compete Clause” is don’t try to force people to change, just take them out of situations where they can cause problems. It’s obvious AJ and RD are going to compete until the end of time, so just make sure it’s over harmless stuff that won’t get children killed.
Vivace
Lunar Supporter - Helped forge New Lunar Republic's freedom in the face of the Solar Empire's oppressive tyrannical regime (April Fools 2023).
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Artist -

“ShimSham my GlimGlams”
A lot of the time when Twilight wrote letters to Celestia, the events had her as an observer instead of the one who needed the lesson. Sure helps a pony know the words, but being the subject helps you learn what they mean.
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
@cheezedoodle  
@Mildgyth  
Characters are still an important feature, it’s why I don’t really consider this to be amazing, but this is just meant to be a silly competition episode with a friendship moral tied to the end. If anyone else finds this episode to be annoying or the humor doesn’t work for them, that’s completely fine. I still had a blast watching this, even if it was nonsensical and goofy.
 
Look at “2, 4, 6, Greaaat”. That episode had cute moments, Smolder was good and the cheer at the end was nice, but the episode’s focus largely revolved around Rainbow being ignorant to her own students and them all being pissed off at her. There just isn’t much entertainment value in that episode compared to this one.
 
@GenericArchangel  
@E-123
On a related note, this episode means that the real lesson from “Non-Compete Clause” is don’t try to force people to change, just take them out of situations where they can cause problems.
 
Twilight didn’t know that in 2, 4, 6, Greaaat. :P
RogueBadnik
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 -
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Not a Llama - Happy April Fools Day!

⌜Ω⌟
@GenericArchangel  
Yeah, it was almost like that episode of the Simpsons. While Homer tried to be show as superior than Flanders, his unexperience and pure idiocy put everyone at the verge of death.
 
@Vivace  
This.  
Twilight never handled this problems by herself, but the way in how you described it makes it like Twilight was like a scientist analyzing test subjects and sending reports to her boss.
cheezedoodle
Roll for Initiative - For Patreon supporters
A Lovely Nightmare Night - Celebrated the 12th anniversary of MLP:FIM!
The Power of Love - Given to a publicly verified artist with an image under their artist’s tag that has reached 1000 upvotes
Princess of Love - Extra special version for those who participated in the Canterlot Wedding 10th anniversary event by contributing art.
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Thread Starter - OC Tag Description Requests
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2020) - Took part in the 2020 Community Collab
The Magic of Friendship Grows - For helping others attend the 2020 Community Collab
Dream Come True! - Participated in the MLP 9th Anniversary Event
Silver Bit -

Moderator
TagZombie: AC15, Atk +8
@rdibp  
I didn’t think it was amazing either, just a lot of fun and worthy of being called good. I also don’t think any character in the episode acted OOC or “reverted to s1 behavior.” They just acted like they always have.
 
Also, hey, one last hurrah for Flutterbulk.
 
 
@Mildgyth  
Well that doesn’t surprise me, since your spirit animal got some pretty shabby treatment from Twilight.
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