My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. "Ponyville Confidential" Review

When talking about how close we are to the ending of this season 2 of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic I have to think my words carefully, and write them even more carefully. Don't get me wrong, I am surprised at how quickly this season passed by. I mean, it feels like yesterday when we were all like "Oh my God that's John de Lancie in the Season premiere!". And now we all are "Awwww, it's three more episodes and it's over". Guys, I actually can't wait for the season to end. No, seriously, I want it to end. You have no idea how stressful it is to have a normal Saturday schedule when ponies are set at such disastrous time for me. Disadvantages of living in Spain, and having a pain in the ass for a family. But that's life. Grab a helmet and hold to your hunches, we have an episode to review. Onwards!!!

I think you guys might not have heard the word, but there seems to be a pony around that calls himself TL;DR. I know! What kind of pony name is that? This pony is spreading rumours about the recent episode, he says things like, even though this isn't the best episode of Season 2 it's certainly one of the very best. Too bad that the only way to understand why he's saying this is by reading this entire review, that is, if you trust the word of a pony who's name is made up.

So the episode starts with me arriving way too late at home and having to wait five hours until I could get a hand on the 1080p version on YouTube. I know, it's whinny and all that but do you have any idea how difficult it is to avoid spoilers in the Internet? I had to sign off from Twitter and Tumblr to avoid getting the episode ruined for me. Thankfully, all my concern was for nothing. Now seriously, the episode starts with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo with the blues as one of the ponies in their class got his cutie mark. His name is Feather Weight, funny how we've never met him until now, I guess Ponyville does work according to plot convenience. His special talent seems to be light as a feather, which makes sense because he is a pegasus. I mean they walk on clouds, they are either light, magical or both. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo are depressed as I said, but then comes Applebloom, throws a newspaper at them and tells them, as she points to the newspaper, that there is a great idea in there for them. So, not wasting any time, Sweetie and Scoots grab the newspaper and proceed to show every type of thing you can do with it, from stuffing boxes for transport to building giant paper ships. Wow, I didn't know one newspaper could have enough paper to make a giant paper boat. But of course, rule of funny on one hand and brilliant writing on the other, Applebloom meant that they should work for the school newspaper and so they set themselves to do so.

Exclusive photos from the last "News of the World" meeting.

After the intro we are taken to the class where Cheerilee presents the aspiring journalist ponies their new boss and editor in chief, which is none other than fan favourite best pony of all time in Equestria Diamond Tiara! I should insert a troll face link in that last sentence. I know many people do hate her, but I personally have no problem with her. She's actually a very interesting character in this episode, I will explain why I like her so much later on, now onto reviewing. She's determined to make the Free Foal Press (that's the name of the school's newspaper) a much better newspaper and for that she needs good stories, so she sends Feather Weight to take pictures of everything, and the CMC to find stories to write about. Sadly though they end up falling into embarrassing Chekhov plot points, and the stories they get from them are not precisely juicy. After getting kicked out of the editing room, the CMC stumble across a rather weird scene. In the school's backyard Sweetie Belle spots Snips and Snails with chew gum stuck to their flanks. Okay, I rise the question. How did that end there? I understand sitting on it, but how did it got connected between them? What were they doing? My money is a failed bet. They were making a stupid bet out of it and they ended up with half their fur coat ripped off. Heck, even half of their cutie marks are gone, temporarily I hope. But again, rule of funny, and seeing other people with chew gum in their hair is always funny. Diamond Tiara is so pleased with this, and with the fact that the CMC came up with an alias to sign their column on gossips, that she gives them that as their only assignment. It may seem easy, but it's not. Coming up with gossips is hard when you are limited to the school backyard.

Alternate title for the episode was "Rupert Maredock, the Early Years"

It's not until a visit to Rarity's boutique when Sweetie Belle realises that they shouldn't limit themselves to the school. They should expand to all of Ponyville. So without wasting any time they embark themselves into finding more gossips and stuff for the newspaper to print out, which causes such an impact that even the news agents of Ponyville want to get copies from them. As silly as this sounds, think about it for a second. Ponyville is part of Equestria, which is already a pretty idyllic society. There seems to have no recession or war, and when no big problems hit the presses you know very well what people go for: Gossips. So, even with all the silliness, a news agents asking a school newspaper for copies, especially if it's only about gossips, it's perfectly understandable, I bet you not this has happened in real life before. We then cut to a scene directed by Quentin Tarantino and Joss Wheedon (you know very well why I say that) where the Mane Six minus Rainbow Dash are having a hooficure at the spa. This is probably one of my favourite scenes in the entire show, but not for the reasons you think. I liked how casually they introduce their opinions on the gossip column doing something I can perfectly imagine them doing in a weekly basis. Besides, seeing Applejack in the spa proves how far she's gone in character development. From not wanting to put mud on her face to enjoying a good back massage. That was lovely. When Rainbow Dash shows up to talk about "The Great and Powerful Trixie" (cue Sethisto's fanboy squeals) Rarity suggests her to try out a hooficure. In a rather subtle way we see Feather Weight taking pictures of the reluctant rainbow pony, who finally refuses to get her hooves touched. However, before leaving, she mentions how much she'd love to get a column dedicated to her. And then the entire Internet mumbled "Careful what you wish for". The CMC are told by Diamond Tiara that they have to step up and get meaner with their articles or else. So the three fillies, rather reluctantly and quite unhappily, get down to work and start ripping the mane six to pieces. They call Applejack lazy, they discover Big Mac is a brony (or a Smarty Pants fan, does that make him a Pantsy?), they call Twilight a snob, Pinkie Pie a party animal, reveal that Fluttershy has tail extensions and accuse Rainbow dash of enjoying hooficures. These are all fake of course, which makes it even worse than gossiping. There is invading someone else's privacy and then there is invading someone else's privacy with lies. It's not until rarity finds an article where they print her private diary that she finds out it was Sweetie Belle who wrote those columns with the help of Scootaloo and Applebloom.

"She published my clopfic! MY CLOPFIC!!!"

After the entire town finds out it was them who wrote those articles, the CMC decide to confront Diamond Tiara and tell her they quit. But then she grabs them by the manes when she throws a bunch compromising pictures of them in very embarrassing Chekhov's plot point situations. The snotty pink earth pony spouts that if they don't have a gossip column ready for tomorrow she will post those pictures for all the town to see. So the CMC go onwards to find a juicy story to write. Sadly, and unsurprisingly, the entire town and the Mane Six refuse to talk to them. Rainbow Dash kicks a rain cloud over them. Fluttershy is too busy crying on her chaise lounge so she has Angel slam the door to them (I bet she'd have Angel do it even if she wasn't crying). Twilight has raised an entire magic barrier, that will make Jean Grey green with envy, around the entire house. And apparently Big Mac and Applejack swapped lines in the recording booth. Just kidding, the way they act is actually pretty interesting. They are not just hurt at how the CMC treated them, they are severely disappointed at Applebloom, who should have known better before doing something so harmful. Applejack refuses to talk to her, and lets Big Macintosh take care of the scolding and let me tell ya, when he talked every muscle in my body clenched. Big Mac is that type of character that you know he doesn't talk because when he does he could make mountains run away. It was really cool to see him call the CMC off, that was beautiful. Sadly though, Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle don't find it as enjoyable as I do, and so they return to their club house to think on what to write on the newspaper column. Time passes by until the next morning when they show up in the nick of time with an article ready. Diamond Tiara, being the irresponsible editor that she is, prints the article without reading it. Horrified, she discovers too late that the article is an open letter to all of Ponyville where the CMC reveal their identity, explain the motifs of their actions, and apologise to the entire town about what they have been doing. This apology sets things up with their friends and relatives thus ending the episode's conflict. Diamond Tiara is kicked out of the editor's seat to be replaced by Feather Weight, and then she is down-graded to pressing pony. She slips in an ink puddle, she ends up covered in ink, and everypony laughs at the end.

I was going to show her covered in ink, but then I felt like trolling you guys a bit.

So that was "Ponyville Confidential" and yes it's pretty much like that episode of "The Simpsons" in which Homer makes a blog and starts sharing all the gossips in Springfield, until the people find out who he is so he starts to fabricate them. What do I think of this episode? Well, I really liked it, but that's no surprise coming from an M.A. Larson scripted episode. Seriously, this guy has been on a roll this season. He wrote the two parter season premiere and five episodes afterwards. That makes him the most prolific writer of season 2, and for good reasons. I always praised his writing so if you want to know why I like him so much I will explain it real quickly right here, because I really wanna talk about the episode itself. M.A. Larson is the writer who gets the characters the best. He knows how to balance their traits good enough to keep them relatable but also to flex out new traits, and keep it all wrapped up with a neat bow of comedy. He also knows how to measure how much of each character is shown and gives them the importance they deserve. Since this episode is about the Cutie Mark Crusaders we see aspects of their lives that concern them. We see Scootaloo struggling to fly and failing at that. We see Sweetie Belle interacting with Rarity like sisters would, snooping around and having small fights. We see Applebloom getting embarrassed over her pictures and her family disappointed in her. But we also have enough of the other characters so we don't forget they are there, like Spike, Twilight or Pinkie Pie. So like always M.A. Larson's character writing is perfect. The key word here is balance. What about the story? Well, I was thinking on how the story works and all that and to tell you the truth I was going back and forth with it. There are many times when the CMC could just go to the Mane Six and say "Diamond Tiara is blackmailing us, we didn't want to do this" and they don't, so for a moment I considered calling the stupid card. But then I thought "What would I've done in their case?". I am too proud to ask for help, I hate asking for help, and I bet the CMC also have their pride. They don't tell anyone because this is their screw up and they have to fix it themselves. No one else can. That's another good lesson to teach the kids. And speaking of which, I think the lesson of this episode was both delivered great (another thing M.A. Larson does great, delivering morals like nobody else does in this series) and was very relevant more to the adults than to the kids: It's a bad thing to spread rumours and gossips about other people, so don't do it if you don't want them biting you in the flank. I want to point fingers at certain places on the Internet that do this (and certain people) but I won't.

Okay, that's for story and writing, what else did I like of this episode? Well, let's get out of the way the fact that, again, I didn't hate anything. Two for two, that's a good season ending right there guys, keep it up. But before I talk about what I liked, I can't go any further in this review without explaining why do I like Diamond Tiara so much.

You know who I am? I'm the filly who's going to burn down your stable! With your apples!

You guys have to understand that I like bossy female characters. I enjoy female characters who are petulant, obnoxious, abusive even, and Diamond Tiara fits really well. Her preppy voice, her aura of superiority, all that over confidence and her prissy voice, they all make her a great character, but I think all of it is a facade. I don't want to get into any head canon or anything, but I've seen that kind of behaviour coming from the type of people (ponies) who have a bunch of insecurity. She tries to hide it by being so forward and so insulting to others, and so narcissistic to herself. Like I said, I am trying not to overanalyze here, I was thinking this as the very first time I saw her in "Call of the Cutie". But that's not the only reason why I liked her in this episode. If you take into account where she comes from, none other than the owner of the oldest business in all of Ponyville (Filthy Rich inherited the business from his father), you can understand why she is taking her job as chief editor of the school newspaper so seriously: She just wants to be like her daddy. Now, who could blame her for wanting to be as successful as her dad? Even if it's thanks to a silly newspaper. So in the end I do like Diamond Tiara, but I totally understand why people hate her. You can call her my guilty pleasure character, and come to think of it she's the closest this cartoon has to a recurring villain.

"Yes, my little ponies. Play, prance and laugh. Your day is coming. And then you will all bow to me!"

I liked a few other things. I really liked Rarity, especially when she breaks into fits of anger. Her "I will destroy her!" cracks me up, with the dramatic red background and her pose, and when she kicks open the door to confront her sister it's just hilarious. Even the music playing sounds like a Shakespeare play, it's so theatrical which is a theme that fits Rarity like a glove. Her fawning over her hooves in the spa is also pretty funny. The spa scene was just so bizarre. Don't get me wrong, I loved, I really did love it. If you know me well enough you'll know why I loved it so much, but there is something about ponies getting their hooves polished and then painted using one of those toe-spreading styrofoam thingies that is just weird. I said Diamond Tiara is a guilty pleasure of mine, you can say excessive focus on pony hooves is another guilty pleasure for me. Now I want to eat a marshmallow. Radically changing subjects, I think the new pony we are presented with, the thinly framed Feather Weight, is a pretty good pony. I liked how he looked like a male version of Fluttershy, and for some reason he kept reminding me of Joseph Mazello. Even though I kept wondering how his camera works, it was cute to see him taking pictures everywhere. I bet him and Pipsqueak would be great friends. As long as they don't start working together building a social network for ponies everywhere. I loved the fact that this series uses the term "Party Animal" to describe Pinkie Pie. Ashleigh Ball used it once to describe her, it makes me wonder if that was after recording this episode. The crowning moment of awesome however goes to Big Macintosh and the way he scolds the CMC. Peter New has an amazing voice as he sounds both badass and heartwarming. Kudos to you sir, you are wonderful! Celestia getting caught while eating cake is hilarious, as well as the Mayor not being naturally grey, which raises a few questions. Does that mean she's younger? What kind of woman would wish to look older? I can smell a fanfic coming. The typewriters in Equestria crack me up. Seriously, they are the most efficient typewriters ever. Three keys (two big keys and a space bar) are enough to type any letter in the alphabet. Not even an iPhone is so efficient.

Out of all the episodes of this season, so far this was definitely one of the best. I just realised I've been saying that a lot lately. It was fun, it told itself really well, the characters were in character, it was funny, it had great memorable moments, and overall it was enjoyable. It's not M.A. Larson's best work of writing (but that's debatable as his work just oozes quality and it's hard to pick one) but that means nothing. His average quality level is many writers' highest quality level, so take that into account. It makes me feel rather odd however. This was a great episode, and it was about journalism! The only way they can top a similar subject again is by making an episode titled "All the Queen's Mares" where Twilight is Robert Redford and Pinkie Pie is Dustin Hoffman and they have to uncover the Cakegate incident.

You gotta be bucking kidding me.

- Defining Moment: The Cutie Mark Crusaders stepping out of the editing room saying "Yes, let's go get some stories!" and then cut to the three of them sitting at a table looking bored like the design team for Half-Life: Episode 3. "Got anything?" "Nope".

- Guilty Pleasure Moment: Anything involving Diamond Tiara.

- Moral: If you spread rumours or lies about other people you will only end up doing a lot of damage, especially to yourself.

SNAPSHOTS PROVIDED BY THE MLP:FiM WIKIA.
YOU GUYS ROCK HARDER THAN TOM AND ROCKY TOGETHER!!!