The Starlight and Trixie Show returns! I think you all know how great these two are by now, and this is no exception to the rule.
Below the break, get your Trix, get your Glims, explore some shipping, and meet Phyllis.
Some people have dogs, others take cats. Some own hamsters, some handle rats.
But none of them are as absolutely adorable as Starlight taking care of her pet philodendron.
Phyllis is best plant.
Possibly best pet overall.
Everyone's face when they found out Seth wasn't writing this followup.
Don't you know that not introducing your new friend to other ponies is rude, Glimmy? Phyllis would get on great with Twiggy and Spike if you just gave her a chance.
You've gotta let her branch out sometime, y'know?
Everyone tries to leave work early at some point. Everyone. You're a liar if you say you haven't and you know it.
I bet Trixie's "magical emergency" was a picnic. A magic show picnic. With magic "apology" kites Trixie made just for the occasion.
I have never seen a more accurate representation of people going through formal documents than this clip.
Twilight's even doing that "skip to the end" motion with her hoof, there. You know you've got too many words in a letter when Bookhorse is trying to get you to skip 'em.
"And let's not forget the time that demonspawn kid tricked me into a magic doomsday thing and almost threw me into the v̢ ̀ơ̢ ́́̕í̡ ͜d̵. That was one heck of a day. Really made me wonder if I was cut out for the teaching life, but as long as we keep that Necronomiwhatsit book locked up I think I'll be fine."
Starlight's going through all the emotions right now.
All of them.
Even ones we haven't discovered yet. This is that big of a deal.
If you look carefully, you can spot the exact moment Twilight realizes what is about to happen, knows she can't escape it, and regrets everything that led to this point.
This clip also shows us that Starlight Glimmer can pull off one hell of a flying tackle. Get the pony NFL on the line, because I think we just found their new linebacker.
linebacker is the one that does the tackling, right? I hope that's the right one
GlimmyGlam once ruled her subjects with an iron hoof. Now, she crushes her friends with an iron grip.
Seriously though how friggin' strong is this pony? I think you can hear Twilight's bones creaking.
You've got mail.
Spike's got the worst stomach problem ever.
Don't ask where your mail came from.
"I'm dead. I'm so dead. Super-duper-duper dead. Expired and gone to see my maker. A late pony. A stiff. Bereft of life and resting in peace. Run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. An ex-pony. Oh, no..."
"Twilight, it's just napkin placement, they're not gonna be that upset about you being a little late."
"You've clearly never had a formal dinner with the princesses."
Phyllis continues to be the best plant by providing Starlight with some amazing emotional support. Just look at how confident Starlight is thanks to her talk with good ol' Phyllis.
OH MY GOD
PHYLLIS IS DOWN I REPEAT PHYLLIS IS DOWN
SOMEBODY CALL A DOCTOR
Enter the one, the only, the GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE.
And she's giving Starlight that special look. You know the one. The one "best friends" give each other when they're talking about how strong their "friendship" is.
Look I know it's not up to the usual shipping standards of a Trixie-Glim followup but Seth couldn't do it so you'll have to make do with my bad attempts at it. Yes, I have to do it. He'll haunt me for the rest of my days if I don't.
Your writer for today is Ariel Shepherd-Oppenheim. This is her first (and sadly, only) episode for the show.
She's also directed a short film titled, um... how do I say this politely... Screw You from LA.
Yeah, that's how I reacted, too. Still, a diverse portfolio is always a good thing to have.
Trixie planned out a "delightful lunch" for herself and Starlight today. And she was really looking forward to it. Just look at how happy she is when she brings it up. Yessir, this is a mare that wanted to spend some quality time with a really, really good friend.
"Trixie, I love spending time with you and I'm sure that lunch would've been amazing, but I want to actually keep this job and not lose in a few months so please, please let me learn how to do first."
"But I brought our friendship kite."
"That's a dirty move and you know it."
"Yes."
Not only is Trixie GREAT and POWERFUL, she's also HIGHLY OBSERVANT.
And accidentally good at giving other ponies good ideas, too. Truly, there is nothing this magician cannot do.
A foreshadowing wink.
Here's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot of a confused Trixie.
Why is this here, you may ask?
Because this is the Trixie and Starlight Show followup and there will be all the Trixie in it, that's why.
The three stages of attempting origami:
1) Intense concentration.
2) Joy at figuring it out.
3) Immeasurable disappointment in oneself and asking the paper why it must be this way.
If you pay attention to Twilight in this shot, you'll see her get very nervous and upset before she gets this shape right.
But even though she's so in the zone for this little napkin animal, she's still paying close attention to everything Starlight's saying. That's multitasking, right there.
TFW you try to be creative but can't even draw a single line.
Twilight's getting taller every season, I swear.
If you're wondering how many fittings you have to get for a coronation outfit, the answer is "too many."
If Trixie says she's humbled by anything, be afraid.
Be very afraid.
f l o p p y h o r s e y e a r s
And the movement is smooth as jazz, too.
Meanwhile, Trixie has the most humble expression on her face.
Trixie's idea is good on paper, but there is a reason the old saying "never go into business with friends and family" exists.
Still, that amount of happy she's got for this idea is very convincing.
"Nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more, know what I mean?"
It begins.
"Trixie, this is Twilight's office."
"So?"
"We can't do that in her office"
"Yeah, we can."
"We'll get caught."
"Nopony's here but us."
"W i n k"
"Trixie, we are not doing it in this office, alright? I respect her way too much to do that, and I'm just not in the mood."
"But all that paper's just sitting there, on her desk. Waiting for us to turn it into a cool new friendship kite."
"...Get the tape and twine."
AND THEN THEY MADE A KICKASS KITE AND FLEW IT USING THE WIND OUTSIDE TWILIGHT'S WINDOW. BECAUSE KITES ARE AWESOME.
That's an interesting bunch of Vice Headmare candidates.
I wonder what kind of ad Starlight put out for the job.
Last time I checked, fandom consensus was that Spoiled Rich is the absolute worst. Not even worst pony, just the worst in general.
Judging by everyone's reactions here, I think it's safe to say that she isn't held in high regard in-universe, either.
Trixie, stage whispering this sort of thing when you're standing next to the competition probably isn't a great idea.
You're not in a Shakespeare play where you can talk to the audience all the time without anyone noticing, that went out of fashion centuries ago.
Actually that plan sounds like a solid way to do things.
Weed out all the nonhackers and find out who can deal with the horrors of running a school on a daily basis.
Someone should make a longform gameshow based on that premise.
"Why must you be this way?"
--Big McIntosh, probably.
Turns out Big Mac can sew like a god.
Who'd have guessed he was a great tailor? Do we even know everything about him now, or does he have even more hidden talents? We may never know for sure.
Meanwhile, Spoiled Rich is trying to teach economics -- or more specifically, how to win loyalty via the power of m o n e y.
Economics is a scary, convoluted thing made of evil puppies and drawn up by whatever created flying cockroaches as a practical joke.
It is also ridiculously boring if you have someone like Spoiled Rich teaching it to you.
And Octavia's teaching the Laughter class how to play instruments.
Musical instruments are a great deal of fun to play, so this is a good idea. Now, in the real world band classes will suck all the fun out of playing the things, but that doesn't have to be the case here.
NOBODY EXPECTS THE YOVIDAPHONE
I think that pony with the violin may have accidentally done some top-tier shredding, if that pose is any indication.
"Anyway, here's Boccherini."
All jokes aside, it's actually really cool to get some more characterization for Octavia, however brief her appearance in this episode may be and however small said characterization bits are.
And if I may go on a brief tangent, I've seen some people say that no real musician would do this with a cello.
These people have sticks up their butts. Besides, if one of the greatest movie endings of all time can have a character do this, why can't this show do the same?
Rube Goldberg machines are, and always will be, awesome.
No exceptions.
This is almost every substitute teacher I had to endure in school.
They didn't even care enough to try reading the book, they just told the class to read from the textbook and do a bunch of questions at the end of chapters.
Now, if a substitute had told the class to take a nap, they would have been worshiped as a god.
Seriously, any college or high school student would kill to have a dedicated nap time during the day.
"W I N K"
Oh, thank god, Phyllis is alright.
I don't know what we'd do without her. She's the backbone of this school, she really is.
Someone needs to vector this and send it to Seth ASAP.
And here we see a pony demonstrating the concept of denial.
Watch as their trusted confidant can do nothing to dissuade them from the path to ruin.
"This is fine."
--Starlight Glimmer, probably.
"You want to do what."
"You heard me."
Squiggle face.
Not quite as neat as the scrunchie face, but still a neat thing to witness.
Phyllis tells it like it is.
You gotta respect that.
"...or well enough."
[disgruntled Trixie noises]
Octavia sounds a little different from the last time we heard her speak.
It's subtle, but noticeable. Somehow more and less posh at the same time.
Trixie may be a GREAT and POWERFUL communicator (orator might be a better word, really), she's also really into MELODRAMA. Can't say I blame her for that; all stage performers have to be a little melodramatic.
For those of you that don't speak Music, pianissimo means "whisper quiet," while fortissimo means
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
Yona confirmed to be an up-and-coming scientist that will change the world.
Seriously, if Dr. Whooves says you're going to change our understanding of science itself, you've got a bright future.
I don't know for sure, but I feel pretty confident saying that most teachers wish they could do this in some PTA conferences.
This is how 90% of all real life conversations with me go down.
I can be very talkative, but most of the time I'm like Big Mac here.
I want to direct your attention away from the verbal kombat between Trixie and Gruff and to Gallus, because that poor guy is dying inside.
We later learn that this is the first time anyone has stuck up for him like this when talking to Grandpa Gruff.
That's, uh, that's just sad. Depressing, even.
"Trixie, what happened?"
"I'm not sure."
It turns out Trixie has moral standards even she didn't know she had.
Whether or not this is a result of one of her own parents possibly being a deadbeat dad and/or unaware of her existence at all is up to you.
This is such a mood.
Big Mac knows his limits, and doing a lot of talking is well beyond those limits.
Still, he made a great effort and I'm pretty sure this whole job was outside his comfort zone to begin with, so it's still a win for him as far as I'm concerned.
And then you have Trixie.
Trixie is Trixie.
Brutal honesty sometimes works, but if I'm being honest I don't think you should've let it get to this point in the first place.
You should've listened to Phyllis, Starlight. Should've listened to Phyllis.
At this point Starlight's so quietly annoyed that she's starting to warp the very fabric of reality. VHS scanline effects are popping up on ponies now.
But not on Phyllis, of course. Phyllis is too stable to be affected by the power of VHS scanline.
oh god we nearly lost Phyllis again that was terrifying
Behold, the GREATEST and most POWERFUL of boops.
Phyllis is a supportive friend, Starlight, but she isn't that supportive.
See?
Doesn't even have to say a word, that expression conveys everything.
Well, classical music performances can be dull. Can. It all depends on the pieces being played and the personalities involved.
Of course, this is not a classical music performance.
we rave now
Vinyl's just happy to be here, really. As long as she's making some music with her roommate, everything's good.
And you thought this was gonna be a boring afternoon.
Starlight's got that special kind of smug where it's not really smug but that's the closest thing to it so you call it smug anyway. You know that expression?
Yeah. That's what she's got right now. It's totally the right one to have here, too.
As for Doc's field trip, he's taking them on a trip to a place where the wonderfully amazing thing known as SCIENCE happens.
Or, as it's properly called, a laboratory.
A lab with what appears to be a horribly malformed thing in a tube back there. Maybe that's a Doctor Who reference. I dunno. Either way, it's weird as hell.
Revision edit: I have learned that this thing may be a reference to Squirk, a G1 villain.
"I am referring to time travel."
You know what, I want to see Doc Whooves actually accomplish his centuries-long quest to build a time machine.
Just to see what he'd do with it, really. What time period he'd visit, why he'd go there, etc. It doesn't even have to be a pony version of Doctor Who, just some fun time travel shenanigans would be enough for me.
"Ah, crap."
--Starlight Glimmer, probably.
You'd have the same reaction if you did all the timey-wimey stuff she did.
My first thought upon seeing that thing -- "electric chair" -- probably says a lot about my mind.
How the heck does he keep dust out of that watch? Magic? Glass? How?
I need to know these things.
I think centuries of failure have made the Doc a little loopy.
That, or he's working on biological time machines. Either one works.
Glimmy went from full "oh god please no" mode to "I can't believe we wasted time on this" with regards to the Doc's timey wimey stuff.
Because as we all know, nothing wastes time more than a fake time machine. Or a teacher that didn't plan a lot of activities for a field trip.
If my memory serves me right (and it hardly ever does), the last time Trixie's smoke bombs worked properly -- that is, obscuring her entrance and exit and not making her cough up a storm -- was season one.
I think she might want to get a refund on those things, or at least find a new dealer.
Yona and the pony sitting behind her are the only students that care about this field trip. Look, that one in the back just kept on reading her book.
I'm not sure what Yona did to piss off the guy next to her, though. Why someone would even get mad at best yak is beyond me.
"...today, we're not doing a normal, old, boring field trip where you GO somewhere."
Two things:
1) Virtual reality? Virtual reality. I knew Trixie was smart enough to come up with that sort of thing sooner or later.
2) This describes every "field trip" I ever went on after my school system was permanently banned from a local science center.
See, this is why Yona's going to change our understanding of science itself.
You see anyone else asking questions here? No, no you don't. Because Yona's the only one that's trying to learn stuff in this classroom right now.
Froggy Bottom Bogg hasn't been seen since Feeling Pinkie Keen all the way back in season one. I can't even remember if it's been mentioned since then.
When Trixie goes for a classroom field trip, she goes old school. And looks cute doing it, too.
Now, call me crazy, but I think Trixie's plan is going to involve teacups.
Just a hunch.
Oh OK you just teleported an entire landmass into the classroom, that's cool.
And she even created a forcefield around herself so she could punch through the ground.
If this ain't proof that Trixie really is GREAT AND POWERFUL I don't know what is.
Everybody always worries about capes when it comes to costume design.
But nobody ever thinks about the dangers of a big floppy pointy wizard hat.
It's like a Kinder surprise egg, but instead of a toy you get bees and instead of chocolate you get a broken beehive.
So it's not really like a Kinder egg at all. I wouldn't know, of course; I live in BurgerFreedomland, where such wonders as these are forbidden.
"I've made a huge mistake."
-- Trixie, probably.
The flash bees actually scorch everything they touch here. Trixie's lucky she got out of the way in time, otherwise we'd be looking at a great and powerful pile of ash.
"Hey kids, you wanna buy some magic?"
Well, all things considered, this could've gone worse. You could've teleported the hydra that lives in the bogg over here instead of the flash bees, and then we'd really be up the creek.
Still, flash bees are scary things and you probably should've done some more research on that patch of bog before you zapped it into the room, Trix.
That one pony with the book is the only one with any sort of protection from the bees.
Not that a bunch of paper is the best protection against bugs that scorch anything they touch, but it's still better than nothing.
And if you want a good idea of how many terrible movies I've seen in my time, the only thing I can think of when I look at this picture is a very bad killer bee movie called The Swarm.
"Who told you bees to nest in my patch of field trip bog?"
That's not a bad way to start a battle with a swarm of bees.
Gets the point across, tells your opponents you're here to kick some bug butt.
Unfortunately for Trixie, smoke bombs just turn a swarm of flash bees into a raging, stinging thunderstorm.
"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah I'm just gonna put this back and hope nopony saw that..."
TRIXIE THERE IS A SWARM OF ANGRY ELECTRIC BUGS SWARMING OVERHEAD THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO TALK ABOUT HOW EXCEPTIONAL YOUR FIELD TRIP WAS (even if it was a cool idea).
Glimmy just liquefied all the bees.
That's brutal, but understandable.
oh she's mad
that "yes" is oozing so much fury and hatred you could fill a lake with it all
I don't even think she was this angry when she was a villain this is not good
Starlight's face is hidden from us by her mane and the camera angles until she explodes. It does a lot to sell the building rage inside her, since all we have to go on is that venomous line reading and her posture.
It makes the reveal far more effective.
And by "more effective" I mean "absolutely terrifying."
Sorry, Trixie, but I don't think being adorable is going to save you this time.
If you watch Trixie's face through this whole scene, you'll see someone getting crushed into dust in the slowest, most painful way possible.
"But I can't think of any way that you would EVER help me."
jesus christ, starlight, you're committing a murder here
This is almost exactly the same thing Trixie said earlier that gave Starlight the idea to hire a Vice Headmare in the first place.
Callbacks are f u n.
"That's because Twilight's friends are competent. They care about what they're doing, and they know how to do it!"
And here we see Trixie's closest (and possibly only) friend in Ponyville completely destroying Trixie's self-worth.
Seriously, holy shit, Glimmer, I feel like I just watched you drive a stake into someone's heart.
I am in pain.
I think this may be one of the most surprising things Twilight's seen in a while.
I wonder if she really was just heading down to check on Starlight, or if she was standing outside the door the whole time.
Twilight's got the mentor thing down perfectly in this scene. Understands the situation, gives great advice, and does it all in a few sentences.
Equestria's going to be in good hooves.
Presented without context.
There are some people who believe Starlight shouldn't have apologized to Trixie for that brutal verbal smackdown earlier.
I have one question for said people, and it is what the hell is wrong with you?
Trixie confirmed to be a very loyal friend to anyone she cares about.
If, you know, being the first creature to call out Grandpa Gruff didn't already tell you that.
Trixie used cuteness.
It's super effective.
Trixie is not only GREAT and POWERFUL, but she can also be SELF-AWARE.
You know, for a moment I actually thought Octavia would get the job. She aced every part of the interview, after all.
Although that is a valid concern she's got about not having enough time for her music. Kinda hard to juggle that with helping someone run a school.
I love how Trixie just casually starts juggling the smoke bombs during the conversation. Even when she gets focused and goes into deep thinking mode, she's still tossing the things around.
That's how you multitask, right there.
Of course, it's easy to forget about the stuff you're juggling when you finally figure out how to solve a problem.
[Happy GlimGlam noises]
And Trixie's solution is to ask Sunburst if he'd like the job.
This, of course, is the best possible outcome for this situation.
Hugs make everything better. Even when they're strange, neck-stretching hugs like this one.
While Trixie goes over the qualities that make her a good friend, Starlight's giving her that look.
You know, the one we talked about near the top of this followup. That look. The "best friends" look.
This look, on the other hand, is the "brilliant idea" look. Don't worry about how nefarious it might appear, that's just a side effect of being a former villain.
As it turns out, Starlight's going to get to work with two friends at the school.
And who knew Trixie would make such a good counselor? I know I didn't. Seth probably did, though. He knows everything there is to know about Trixie.
Trixie
stop looking at Phyllis like that
PHYLLIS
NO
HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TRIXIE
WHY
#JusticeForPhyllis
For real, though, I haven't laughed this hard at the ending to anything in a long time. This episode was a blast, and I loved every second of it.
Now, as fun as being the substitute host of the Starlight and Trixie Show Followup has been, it's five in the morning and I am this close to falling asleep on the keyboard.
So while I'm off taking a nap, why don't you guys tell us what you thought of the episode down in the comments? Or maybe go out and get a philodendron to honor Phyllis's memory. Either one of those sounds like a nice idea.
algernon97 has a twitter account,
but doesn't know what to do with it.
