Season four began today with probably the best opener yet, but for all its awesomeness I am also filled with sadness. I am concerned that this may be the final season.
The two parter begins with now Princess Twilight practicing, and sucking at, flying lessons for a "big finish" she is going to be performing at the Summer Sun Celebration. To put Bronies' hearts at ease Twi tells her friends she is uncomfortable with flying and with her new title.
The theme song is different. Twi now has wings, the CMC and some others are there posing for a picture by Photo Finish, and Lulu is with Tia when they see the new picture in Canterlot.
Tia tells Twi that this is the first Summer Sun Celebration where she's not sad because it reminded her of when she had to banish her sister cause now they're back together. If this event happens only once a year then that means it is exactly one year since Lulu returned on the very first episode. Talk about one busy year!*
The beginning of part one is really sad and sweet with sad Twi being comforted by her friends. Twi is making a list and checking it thrice, and Pinkie Pie is being Pinkie Pie. There's a cute scene where Twilight bumps her head on the ceiling when she's worried about forgetting something, and another sad sweet moment where Princess Celestia tells her that she's not her student anymore, but is instead her equal. They grow up so fast.
Unfortunately Tia and Lulu disappear (with a rather worrisome shriek from Tia as she's captured), the sun and the moon are in the sky at the same time (not a big deal on Earth, as it happens all the time, but in pony world (Hippotopia - literally "place of horses" - if you will), when the sun and moon are together half the sky is day and the other half is night (which looked really cool how they blended together). The Royal Guard, with no other royalty to guard, come to Princess Twilight for direction, and she promptly directs them to get lost for the rest of the episode (pretty much).
Back in Ponyville, black weeds (that look poorly animated at times) start strangling everything and spiny thunder clouds are trying to shoot Rainbow Dash out of the sky. Rarity and Sweetie Belle are having trouble controlling their magic (and Sweetie Belle's magic is blue, just like her sister's, not green like it was in "One Bad Apple").
Twi gives everypony the Elements of Harmony and they summon Discord (who is singing "Winter Wrap Up" in the shower) who affirms that he is not behind these disasters, asking "would I lie to you?" To which almost everypony replies "yes," and Fluttershy giving a less sure "um, maybe?" Discord is kinda-sorta grateful that his good friend "Shutterfly" is giving him the benefit of the doubt. He points them to Zecora, who is having to flee her home now that the Everfree Forest is overrun by killer weeds. She gives Twilight a magic colour-changing potion, Twi drinks it, and all of a sudden she can see into the past. Part one ends with Twi witnessing Luna transforming into Nightmare Moon.
Part two begins with a very intense battle between Nightmare Moon and Celestia that was very reminiscent of this Lullaby for a Princess video. The similarities are spooky, really. The battle destroys the old castle and seems to injure Celestia at one point (very intense for MLP). Tia gets the Elements of Harmony and goes god mode to banish Nightmare Moon.
Cue more flashbacks. Twi sees when Tia and Lulu first beat Discord. We get to see which three elements each sister wielded. Judging by the colours:
Tia
Magic
Kindness
Generosity
Lulu
Laughter
Honesty (AJ - "Dependability")
Loyalty (RD - "Authenticity")
This is interesting because, after BronyCon when I outlined my own story about Discord and the EoH, I gave Tia and Lulu practically the same list of elements, with the only difference being Tia obviously had laughter, as she's always joking around, and giving Lulu Generosity because somepony had to get it and the other five were taken. I'm not going to change my story in light of the canon list, or any of the other events that happened in these two episodes.
When Tia and Lulu blast discord with the EoH he seems not to know what they are. However, at the same time, he throws "plunder seeds" on the ground in a plot to steal the elements and trap the sisters! Unless, he knew about the Elements but never thought Tia and Lulu would figure out how to use them. It takes a long time for those seeds to sprout because a great and powerful force is keeping them at bay.
The Elements of Harmony, it is revealed, come from a crystalline entity called the Tree of Harmony, located within the Everfree Forest. Just as I predicted in The Window, the EoH started out together as part of a single being of unimaginable power (though, in the story, I never specified what that being was). That it was a tree is very interesting. Just as the battle with Discord represents the Chaoskampf, where the demiurge or creator god brings about the world from the primordial chaos, the idea of a tree of unlimited power, uniting heaven and earth is a very common theme. The world tree, axis mundi, or kalpataru (a wish-fulfilling tree which is identified with the supreme God) appears in cultures all over the world (and is the supreme entity in the universe of pretty much all my stories, at least since 2006).
Unfortunately, the Tree of Harmony's power is almost gone, and the plunder seeds have begun to grow out of control. They have captured the princesses and are close to fulfilling their purpose of killing the Tree. The Mane Six go looking for it. They have to put the EoH back inside the Tree to recharge its power and restore the balance of the universe.
There's a fight, Twi is convinced to leave, but Discord says some sly remarks and Twi goes back to her friends. Twi almost dies, her friends save her (in a most awesome scene), she puts the Elements back in the Tree, the weeds vanish, and Tia and Lulu are saved. The Tree produces a box that cannot be opened without six keys that are going to be the focus of next week's episode.
Book ends! That great big thing Twilight was going to do at the Summer Sun Celebration? She flies up and makes her cutie mark appear in the sky, sonic rainboom style. Why couldn't she just use her magic? Why did she need to fly at all? Still, it is a very cute ending.
Overall, I would rate this two parter 98/100.
*On the other hand, if Apple Family reunions happen "every hundred moons" and there's been two so far, then eight years have passed already and Tia has just had a memory lapse or something.
OR the writers just make stuff up as they go along.
One possible explanation for the 'First SSC since Luna returned' problem: What if the Summer Sun Celebration isn't a yearly event?
ReplyDeleteThere's plenty of evidence that more than one year went by between the two. S2E2 showed the pile of scrolls Twilight has sent to Celestia (as returned to Twilight), and there's easily fifty-plus in there. Then, in the next episode, Twilight indicates she sends in a scroll weekly (freaking out at the realization the week is almost over without one yet). That would imply at least a year's worth of scrolls in the previous pile. (And that pile would only have covered season one, remember.)
Coupled to this, there are several episodes that cover more than one day's worth of time - Baby Cakes being the winner here, with a month passing by off-screen. (Caveat - other episodes could possibly have occurred during this month.)
Also, note the references to the event - Twilight noted that the SSC that sent her to Ponyville was the celebration for the thousandth year - but this does not mean it was the thousandth celebration; that's assumed because everyone assumes the SSC is the Summer Solstice. But the Solstice itself would be under Celestia's control, just as the seasons are under pony control (Winter Wrap-up, Running of the Leaves). It doesn't have to happen every year.
Conclusion: The Summer Sun Celebration has more to do with Leap Day (Feb. 29th, only occurs once every four years) than with the Summer Solstice. Assuming the first was the actual celebration of Nightmare Moon's defeat, I can easily see it taking several years for Celestia to feel up to having another one (first few years being raw with grief)... at which point, the pattern would start to settle in.
If we're playing around with the solstice not having to happen every year then who is to say there are not 90 weeks in a year or 100? Wouldn't it be possible to change the duration of a year too?
DeleteOR the writers just make stuff up as they go along.