Episode 4 The Secrets of Starlight
“We’ve been waiting for 3 hours, Iz” I guess the rest of them REALLY wanted that glitter makeover that Izzy got. Yeah, this was probably originally supposed to be a separate chapter from the last 3 episodes like the other specials.
Also, I didn’t know Zipp could bend her neck like that. It looks like it hurts. Her poor neck.
Was this supposed to originally be about Crystal Ponies?
Pipp waiting for 3 hours just so she could post pictures of herself with a new look is the most realistic thing about this scene.
“It’s not like it’s going to suck us into a magical portal” Hitch…don’t. Just don’t.
I hope they enjoy their new glitter looks. Because it will never leave them. NEVER. Or their carpets. Or their lungs.
I feel like Misty is trying to get Hitch to notice her with how she’s prancing around him.
I guess the Together Tree is the new Friendship Map table.
Misty never being in snow before is DIRECTLY invalidating a lot of Tell Your Tale…
Oh…oh no…all the “snow” is actually just more glitter. The trees…the animals…It’s all just glitter all the way down. It’s a vacuum’s worst nightmare.
Well, Izzy’s going to be tasting glitter for the rest of her life. Of course, with all the crafting she does, that might have already been the case.
New villain introduction or just a random friendship problem?
“Why is everypony trotting TOWARDS the scary noises when there’s perfectly good silence in the other direction?” You really are new to this friend group, aren’t you, Misty? Plus, it sounds more like a dance party than danger. I’m expecting a chorus of “We will, we will rock you” to start breaking out.
Looks like they all have hot chocolate. If they all speak with Swedish accents…RUN! This has all the earmarks of a cult. Yeah, magic flute…this is a cult. Maybe it’s just the “Starlight” name, but…I’m betting that’s where this is going.
Okay, I like that one pony messes up their choreographed dance. That’s a nice moment.
One thing every race of ponies have in common…their flight response is always in high gear.
“It’s hard to know who to trust or what is real…because of the trance” The red flags are right there. Please notice them.
Violet Frost is the leader. And Comet is the clumsy one.
Aurora-corns. Okay. I guess it’s because of the crystal horns.
Jumping jellybean cocoa. Okay. But frozen cocoa…is just ice cream I guess?
And…they instantly drink the kool-aid…or cocoa in this case. Fluttershy would be proud.
Pipp is SOLD if she gets a excuse to sing.
Starlight Ridge. Going to have to try and remember all these names.
Oh…Hitch can’t resist ALL the girls giving him puppy dog eyes. Misty’s the best at looking pleading, though.
How is Pipp already so good at ice skating? The naturally-coordinated are witches I say!
At one point, I’m pretty sure Izzy did a cartwheel. Impressive.
Hitch holding hands with Sparky and Misty…hmm…
Okay, that Aurora Flare was really pretty.
They’re all SO GOOD at ignoring all these obvious warning signs. They’re all going to turn into Wendigos or something later, I can feel it.
“I can’t slip and slide on accident if I slip and slide on PURPOSE” Her logic is infallible.
They all seem so HURT about these ponies never hearing about Equestria. Personally. It hurts their feelings. Their home that was shut away by a magic spell for who knows how long. No one was SUPPOSED to know that you existed.
Sunny was able to carve the Unity Crystals out of ice. Girl’s got talent. I can’t tell what Zipp made, maybe the Marestream? Pipp made a VERY stylish wing-musical note. Hitch’s snowman is all his critters he left at home. Sparky made a surprisingly stylish egg or Dragon Stone. And Misty made a cute butterfly. And Izzy made…EVERYONE. They’re all REALLY good at this.
Do all the auroracorns have the same cutiemark? Or are they frozen over? Nope, nope, they just all have “raised” cutie marks drawn on their “crystal”.
“That’s it? We’re all done? It was so sudden” Feels like they could be talking about Make Your Mark in general. If this IS the last episode.
You know, if this place is like Alaska, it just might be daylight when they have to sleep sometimes. 24 hours of sun and all.
Oh, well, those are…special faces, right there. *SIGH* All unicorn variants are just destined to be weird and broken, aren’t they?
“I know odd, this is even odder than that” She is the expert.
Wait a second! Is that flying leopard a reference to one of the characters from Pony Life? That one Wild Sider tiger *googles* yeah, Lightning Chill. This looks a LOT like her. Allura, huh? Why does she seem to have Twilight's color scheme? *Squints* And ALMOST her cutie mark?
ponylife.fandom.com
Oh no…Angel’s still alive! And slightly less evil than before!
Oh…that voice is definitely a reference to Catrina from G1, isn’t it?
Why…would you keep getting brainwashed by a flying cat a secret? Why wouldn’t you just warn them to stay away? That’s a weird thing to keep secret.
Twitch, not Angel, fine.
The Nova Charm. Cool name. Weird that your town’s ancient relic can be used by your leaders to mind control you, though. I…don’t think that’s a good power for ANYONE to have. Probably makes collecting taxes pretty easy, though.
“It was so sparkly” Pipp, focus.
Uhh…so the stars are actually portals to other dimensions? Okay. Didn’t see that coming. Even MLP is getting into the multiverse. I guess it makes sense with a character who looks like a Wild Sider.
Time for extra sneaky mode!
Mind controlling the auroracorns into being happy against their will would be more twisted we got got to see more of that.
Wait, if you do a song, won’t it cause a Aurora Flare and attract Allura’s attention?
How did no one think of earplugs in all this time?
Well…Allura’s really gullible.
PIpp is literally a siren.
This “I can have anything I want” sounds awfully close to Opaline. Again. Not sure if this is going for a theme, or just slightly lazy writing. Or maybe this was originally supposed to BE Opaline? Like Saruman taking over the Shire in the epilogue of Lord of the Rings.
Yup, Yup. Hypnotized Zipp is creepy. Very creepy.
Oh, they literally just have to start a snowball fight to free everyone from the mind control. Okay, fine. It’s winter themed. I’ll allow it.
Well, I guess we know Sparky’s fire-food actually tastes good to other creatures, too. Not just himself.
This is the most cheerful banishment EVER!
These snowballs are so MILDLY INCONVENIENCING to this GIANT APEX PREDATOR!
And…Sparky saves the day with a fire-burp. *SIGH* You win again, baby burps!
Oh, hey, they did a little roll call with their elements. Cute.
Well, I guess the next season of Make Your Mark is going to be Sliders-based. The next jump…might just be the jump home.
Yeah, this really shows Allura who..just wanted to go home! Take that….homesick villain! I guess we’re supposed to WANT her to remain trapped here where she can get revenge on those who wronged her at any time?
Huh…Comet’s coming with. I didn’t see that coming. They’re the…Mane 7 now? Or 8 if we include Sparky?
Brother? Okay, I guess we have a ongoing plot. And the voice is inside her head. And I didn’t notice a crystal or anything that he could be sealed away in. Unless…Twitch is the “sealed” form of her brother?
And the season ends with Izzy having a ball on her horn. It all comes full circle. The universe…is balanced.
Huh…Sparky is voiced by the same actor as Twitch. The rabbit is basically a evil Sparky. Interesting touch.
I've never seen snow either.
Hey! Now you know how I feel about the beach!
Okay, so some overall thoughts about this "chapter" and some broad thoughts about the show, since most people won't come in here until they finish up everything.
This...uh...this felt a little rushed, to be honest. It's almost certainly a product of the Netflix drops, but certain plot lines don't feel as fleshed out and connected as they could have. It FEELS like they should have had plenty of time to set things up properly, because this show released over the course of two years. But, that's still only ONE season of G4. I want to give them a little leeway. But, stuff like the dragons just kind of...showing up without a lot of fanfare feels like they either just didn't have the time or the budget for certain things. The Awakening of the Dragons SHOULD have been a big event, but just happened off-screen.
And...as good as the scene between Misty and Opaline WAS in this version...I still feel like MISTY should have been the one to ultimately defeat Opaline. This has really been Misty's show. Misty's had the most development out of everyone in the cast. Opaline is really MISTY's villain. And Misty's definitely a PART of her downfall. But, Misty should have had a bigger role to play at the very end. That's mostly a quibble, though.
But, what I DON'T feel is a quibble...is that this show didn't explain NOTHIN'. We didn't see WHY Opaline was expelled from the alicorn homeland of Skyros. They didn't even properly INTRODUCE Skyros, since that's brand new to this show (minus the Journal of the Two Sisters). We didn't get to SEE how Twilight created the Unity Crystals or the Dragon Stone. We didn't learn how long it's been between G4 and G5. We don't learn why magic is different post-Twilights spell. We didn't learn where Sparky's egg dropped out of the sky from. We didn't learn how the Breezie's got Megan's Locket or where it comes from or what that means. We don't learn why the dragons now have cutie marks. We don't learn why EVERYTHING seems to have cutie marks, including our new flying cat villainess. I NEED THE LORE, HASBRO! Look, I get that this is a show for kids. Stopping to do a ENTIRE episode to just...explain your new world might bore them. But, I think the streaming binge model can help account for that. We CAN have a slower episode where you explain...ANYTHING, really. This WOULD be a good job for the comics...if they were actually allowed to flesh out the canon. But, they'd just be ignored.
*HUFF* But, it's definitely not a bad little show. It had it's ups and downs, sure. If they HAVE to choose between the two shows...I'm still kind of glad they picked Tell Your Tale. I just ended up liking that style more. But, if they decide to bring this show back, I'm not against it. At the very least, I'm hoping Tell Your Tale explains some of these odd plot threads they've left dangling. But, at the end of the day, I've had fun with this show too. They definitely tried. I can't say they didn't.
If this is where this show ends....I think it at least had a solid enough finale. We at least addressed and wrapped up the main villain for this season. I've seen worse endings. And we do still have different ways to wrap up the different lingering plots.
