#brony analyst

“The Summer Sun Setback” - The Mane Six try to make Celestia and Luna's final Summer Sun Celebration extraordinary.

- Obviously, another step towards the Royal Sisters in retiring, and another chance for Twilight and her friends to really show their stuff as future rulers. And another chance for Twilight to freak out like she did before.

- I’m hoping to see some growth from Twilight here in terms of her mental state. She’s learned to calm herself in the past, i.e. “Games Ponies Play”, but she still lets her anxiety and perfectionism get the best of her. She’s under the impression she needs to be Atlas, and carry the weight of the kingdom and ruling it on HER shoulders alone. Almost like she’s becoming the perceived idol image she’s held of Celestia all these years.

- It’s not just her inheriting the kingdom. She and her friends are going to rule together. And as she learned - or needed to learn - in “Between Darkness and Dawn”, delegating duties is a necessary tool for a ruler. No one person can do anything ALONE. They can’t just shoulder every little responsibility themselves. They need to learn to ask for help and seek it accordingly. 

- On another side note, I hope we see more of the “League of Villains” here. Now that Cozy Glow, Chrysalis, and Lord Tirek have Grogar’s bell, I want to see if there’s something more they can do with it. Control it, use it’s powers, develop their bond and possibly become friends and use it against him - you know.

- Watch me call that.

“She Talks to Angel” -  Fluttershy seeks help from Zecora to understand her pet bunny, Angel.

- An Angel episode? Now this may be interesting. Angel’s personality is one that is far from appealing. He’s often seen causing more problems for Fluttershy than solving them, and he has a bit of a sadistic streak.

- And a love for Starlight, but that’s something that may not be picked up on ever again.

- I hope we get more insight into Angel and his relationship with Fluttershy. I want to know how exactly these two met, and what their dynamic really rests on.

- And I want to see more of the animal sanctuary. The last we saw of it was a season ago when it was created, and then a few mentions here and there for the students at the Friendship School. And as Pinkie Pie mentioned, Fluttershy helps run the sanctuary, so her newfound responsibilities may be more than she bargained for with all these animals running around. 

- Angel may be jealous, he may want to help, it may be a monster attack - either way, I’m in.

“Dragon Dropped” -  Rarity worries she’s done something to upset Spike when he stops making time for her.

-  . . . this is gonna read like a break-up episode, isn’t it? 

- I’m not one for Spike/Rarity shipping, so this is something I was hoping the show would NOT tackle. I’m a fan of Rarity acknowledging Spike as a friend and treating him with respect, but I’m not fond of her using him and thinking she could possibly be manipulating him with his crush to do things for her.

- I know it’s Rarity. I know it’s Spike. I know the implications here. I’m gonna tread lightly and pray that the writing here will be done with care. 

- As an addendum to this, I’m okay with a show like MLP tackling romantic relationships. I’m not fond of it using Rarity as the jealous girlfriend archetype because Spike gets over his crush and the fandom twists this into some newfound “confirmation of their ships”. That may sound mean, but I don’t sugar coat things.

“A Horse-Shoe In” -  Starlight Glimmer attempts to find a Vice Headmare for the School of Friendship.

- I was hoping for more Starlight Glimmer this season. And this is a valid point to make. With Twilight and her friends ascending to the throne, the School of Friendship will need to be maintained with something other than them. And Starlight can’t run a place like that by herself.

- See my point above. 

- I just know more Trixie in this episode will happen, and possibly some Discord. He wanted in on the school as a sub before, so now this may be his chance to introduce a whole new world of chaos magic to Equestria.

- Or, it’s Starlight being the new Twilight. And I use that saying very sparingly.

“Daring Doubt” -  Fluttershy goes on a quest to find a mysterious writer that publishes his own renditions of Daring Do's adventures.

- So, someone else writes Daring Do’s stories another way? This is something I’m actually in for! And I’m surprised it’s FLUTTERSHY tackling this rather than RAINBOW DASH. 

- Sometimes Kindness is needed more than brashness. 

- I just hope this isn’t something in MLP that’s tied up neatly. Daring Do’s adventures are meant to be an Indiana Jones style adventure that continues, no matter the age or the environment. That’s a type of thing you can’t really conclude. Unless there was some sort of way to tie it up nicely. But eh, I can hold my tongue.

“Growing Up Is Hard To Do” -  The Cutie Mark Crusaders discover that growing up is a lot harder than they thought.

- AND now I jump off the ship of speculation into the sea of questions. 

- How do the CMC look when they’re older? Will they keep their VAs? How is this possible? Can there be more to their talents? How will this effect them when they turn back to normal? 

- And on that matter, when they DO grow up, how will this effect the organization and their decisions on helping fillies? 

- I think this is gonna be an existential episode. So, I’ll keep the tissues and the notepad at the ready.

“The Big Mac Question” 

- THis one has no summary, but MAN do I know what THIS may be about. And talk about loose threads being TIED, eh?!

- Another pony marriage? Are they going to leave Big Mac and Sugar Belle as a romantic couple and let her want to focus on work? Will others come in and try to ruin things?

- Are we gonna get more canonical ships?