It's that time of the week once again! A new episode means a new episode followup! That's the good news. The bad news is this one is unfortunately by me. So prepare for mediocrity at it's finest, haha!
In this weeks exciting and harrowing tale we have all your favorites; dastardly daringness, mischievous manipulation, obvious obliviousness, frenzied friendshipping, spoopy spiderses, and tree's that you definitely wouldn't want to disappoint.
Join me below the break as we take a closer, and almost certainly very silly meme-filled, look at the episode "What Lies Beneath"!
By the way, anyone catch anything interesting written on this blackboard? I feel like these are prime places for the show staffers to hide fun little silly things.
Also bedroom eyes Twilight because. Yes, I may be hot for teacher.
"Almost like it has a mind of it's own..."
lolforeshadowing
Cozy Glow is such a helpful adorable thing. Yes, I am pretending I haven't seen the finale as I write this.
Also, did you notice those two huge stacks of papers on either side of her? I think this filly might take more notes than even Twilight. If this school has a Valedictorian, I think we all know who it would be.
Cozy is going to kill me with cuteness before the season is through.
She's also the only one in the entire class who is happy, and actually clapping might I add, at the thought of the test tomorrow. That filly just ain't right, I tell ya what.
Cute face!
Without the audio you'd swear this were a scene where Gallus confesses his undying love and proposes to this tree.
I so want to Photoshop Fluttershy in his place.
That must be some pretty toxic sewage at this point; it's glowing! The sewage is going nuclear!
"And this here is a picture of my aunt Gertrude. Sadly she was stricken with Swamp Fever and turned into a tree."
Move over, stairs. Silverstream has a new fascination! After the whole stairs fiasco, I'm interested to see what new art this inspires.
This is the other one that will be the end of me before this season is through. The cute levels are through the roof.
This is the same study method I used in school. It's tried and true for failing.
Okay, that little impersonation gave me a pretty good chuckle.
Oooh, that's just downright evil right there. Mimicking a spider crawling on someone's face. I think I recall someone playing this trick on me a long time ago. My reaction was pretty much just the same as Yona's.
"I think I'd be better off studying the plumbing book."
To quote a certain stick figure comedy series; "lol Good one."
Ocellus is way too good at these impersonations. This love bug could really mess with some minds if she wanted to.
This filly is very good at doing what she does, you gotta admit. If this series ever had a wolf in sheep's clothing...
This yak impression also made me chuckle. Everyone seems to be busting out their best yak impressions this episode!
In Gallus's defense, that sorta drives me bonkers too, especially when I'm trying to focus. And with Silverstream having claws instead of fingers, I'd imagine it's much louder as well. Though he should have asked her to stop in a more polite way.
I like Yona's response in this scene. It sorta undermines the silly reason they're currently upset after what Cozy said.
"Welcome..."
Now they're under the school and they come across... this. An oddly-glowing sparkly Twilight. Though Silverstream does note the odd glowing, they all seem to be of fairly little doubt as to the authenticity of this Twilight. The way she speaks alone would be giving me serious pause in that regard. The way she says "welcome" sends chills. Pretty sure this is how a horror film begins! If you've seen the animatic to this episode, you know just how creepy this can get.
"Fail the test and here you will stay..."
Oh dang, shit just got real, yo!
So the student six get transported to different places where they are lost, scared, and confused. And then you got this one right here. Prancing about without a care in the world.
Or maybe not!
Seems each of the students must confront their greatest fears to escape. Silverstream's greatest fear is of course the tyrannical ruler who sought to enslave her race; the Storm King.
I'm still trying to decide whether Silverstream is more adorable as a hippogriff or a seapony. What do you think?
Next up is Gallus. And I know that anxiety-stricken look while in small enclosed room anywhere! Gallus suffers from the same thing I do; claustrophobia.
Then Yona. Harkening back to that little trick Gallus played on her earlier, I think we can all easily enough surmise as to what makes Yona's skin crawl; spiderses.
Followed by Smolder who is afraid of... uhh... what exactly is Smolder most afraid of here? Tea parties? Frilly dresses? Exquisite silverware placement? Eh, we'll come back to her later!
Oh, look! It's best giant vengeful bug queen!
Oh wait, no. It's just Ocellus. Seems that Ocellus' greatest fear is her past and moving on from it. The past can come back to haunt you. Memories, especially bad ones, can linger and be tough to move on from.
Another cute pone face!
But anyway, then finally Saladbar. Who's greatest fear seems to be overly aggressive Dash disappointing his idols, the mane six.
My thoughts through out most of Sandbar's scenes with them were along the lines of; "Do you really think they would say that, or act like this?"
And the first to conquer their fear and make it out is Gallus! At least in part. He was pretty darn clumsy while solving the puzzle to make it out, but fear can do that to you. He gets props for calming himself down and keeping a level head as well as he did.
Aha! So that's what Smolder's big fear is; to admit she likes being cute and adorable. Y'know, that in and of itself is sorta cute and adorable, haha. But it makes perfect sense. Dragons have a rough and tough image to uphold after-all.
You know just by these expressions that you're in for it now. What horrible, terrible, gruesome plans do they have in store for poor Smolder?
OHMYGOSH OHMYGOSH OHMYGOSH OHMYGOSH OHMYGOSH OHMYGOSH OHMYGOSH OHMYGOSH OHMYGOSH!
This. Is. Too darn adorable. I think this was hooves down my favorite part of the episode and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Smolder is the second student to overcome her fears. At least in part.
Smolder is the second student to overcome her fears. At least in part.
Now back to Yona and her little, uh, insect problem. Maybe if you just go that wa-
Okay, maybe not. What if you-
Nope! Well, you're doomed now.
Or perhaps not! The spiders turn out to be friendly and just trying to help. Yona overcomes her fears and is the third student to do so.
Looks like a couple of the students finally found eachother and it was an interesting meeting to say the least. That look on Gallus's face though. Pure gold.
Further cementing the fact they have changed, instead of getting out to save themselves, they instead go in search of the others. Good on ya, guys.
"You do want to impress us, don't you, Sandbar?"
Now back to Saladbar, who is still as oblivious as can be. Does that caption above even remotely sound like something Rarity would say?
On second thought, don't answer that.
*dabs furiously*
Smolder has come across Ocellus, who is practicing her dabbing having an existential crisis.
What I found most interesting in these Chrysalis scenes in seeing her acting in such a melodramatic manner. I know it's actually Ocellus, but you would never see Chrssy herself actually acting like this. So I thought that was sorta fun to see.
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And here we see the seapony leap out of the water to latch onto her prey. Damn, nature! You scary!
But Gallas has found Silverstream and hopefully he can help her overcome her fear of the Storm King.
So to help Silverstream overcome her fear, Gallus fulfills the other part of his test and confides in her his own fear about being in small spaces and how he had to overcome it just as she has to overcome hers.
20000000.0% PISSED
The motivational speech worked and Silverstream overcame her fear and told him off pretty good in the process!
Also, I want a hug from Silverstream too. :(
Adorable intermission!
But we're back to the dragon and love bug now and yet another fear-overcoming motivational speech, this time from Smolder explaining that if a dragon like her can admit she likes cute stuff, that the both of them really can and have changed.
The speech, coupled with an invitation to a top secret tea party, worked and the love bug has now overcome her fear as well!
Seems everyone else isn't quite as enamored with Yona's "spider army" as she is. But 5 out of 6 are now together, only one more to go! And with the help of said spider army, they're off the find the last missing student.
How long have these three just been running aimlessly for anyway? Jeez. I'd be asking exactly where we were going and why long ago.
But at least Sandbar finally grew some cahona's and stood up to "Dash" and "Rarity" and told them his friends are as important to him as their friends are to them. And if it takes ditching his friends to impress them, then he doesn't care to. His friends are more important.
Which is exactly what they were waiting to hear!
And with that, the final horse finally crosses the finish line. Figuratively speaking, of course.
On their way back out of the cave, they once again meet an old sparkly friend.
"You're not headmare Twilight, are you?"
Naw, ya think? And it only took an entire episode to come to that conclusion.
Love bug is the smart one of the group. Jinkies!
So it seems this being is actually the Tree of Harmony, taking on an image of the mane six as avatars. Dang. It makes you wonder what the Tree is capable of or how powerful it is or will get given time. But the Tree comes across as a sort of old wise sage type, so that's a good thing. That sort of power in the wrong hooves could be dangerous.
I also just really like how it speaks and shakes Twilight's head, haha.
And so the student six discover that it was their love and friendship for eachother that helped them ultimately conquer their fears and pass the tests.
"Now gimme a big ol' hug!"
I'm not sure if you would consider the Tree of Harmony a full-fledged character at this point or not. But if so, I think it's one of my new favorites. I just really like the wise old sage type of character it portrays, y'know?
"We just learned a friendship lesson from a tree, didn't we?"
I'm afraid so, you silly birb.
So the students crawl back out from underneath the school and everything is right with the world once again.
soon2.jpg
The student six then proceed to rub in their success and the fact the Tree told them friendship is indeed in their nature right in Cozy Glow's adorable little face.
I don't really have a caption for this one. I just thought it might be funny enough to warrant a screencap. Hah!
The students were going to go to the professors about their new findings and experience beneath the library. But Cozy Glow is able to talk them out of telling anyone, for fear they will find out it happened due to what she told the other students, thus getting her possibly expelled.
"We're all gonna fail."
Haha. That's the spirit, love bug!
So they all fall asleep, miss and fail the test, and are expelled from school forever. The end!
Okay, maybe not. But I had you going for a moment there, didn't I? What's that, no? Oh, okay. :(
But what's this? Why, it's Ms. Dimples Cozy Glow to the rescue yet again! Explaining she will tell headmare Twilight that she needed help sorting the books, thus giving the other students an extension for their test. How nice of her.
lolmoreforeshadowing
And that's a wrap! I actually really enjoyed this episode. I think it's in the top half of my favorites this season. And it was pretty cool to see the Tree of Harmony behind all that. So the Tree is not simply another magical item in the world, but an actual rational thinking being too now. This episode gave us some good character building as well and more of a look at what makes each student who they are. Always a good thing in my opinion. This episode also had a fair amount of Cozy Glow appearances. She's certainly an interesting and peculiar character.
So what were all your thoughts on this episode? How did you feel about the Tree of Harmony showing itself to be so much more? What do you think of Cozy Glow? Discuss down in those comments! We love to hear the many interesting viewpoints our readers share.
Until next time, this has been the silly smol birthday bat, Cobalt Comet, signing out! Eat your mango's and stay in school!
