By technicality Hell is canon in the show, because that's what Tartarus is supposed to be, not to mention having an actual Cerberus as a gatekeeper. Makes you wonder what evils lie tucked away in Ponyville. Also worth nothing that this is probably why Discord was stoned and kept within Celestia's watch. Imagine what madness he can pull if he was free while in Hell. Mind rape ALL THE MONSTERS.

Tartarus is not Hell (as per christian belief). It's just the place where everyone who died went, there was no distinction between the good or bad people.
And according to what they've said in the show it's just a place where monsters are kept guarded, so it could just be some kind of freaky zoo/prison.

-Fluttershy's assertiveness slowly established!
-Oh ho ho, The Great and Fabulous Rarity
-Spike blushing and apron = so cute.
-"We're going to follow him, aren't we? Oh yes."
-Did I spy another Cranky Doodle Donkey? I think I did.
-Haha entire beard worn just because.
-Meeting with teenage dragons, but wasn't able to talk to the parents. Could have been explored further so to reveal Spike's true parents.
-SURE IS PAPER THIN DRAGON DISGUISE, YOU PONIES. I like it's surprisingly fire resistant though.
-Crackle = lol
-Dragons can apparently survive heat as great as lava, but probably still not immune to magic fire. *takes note*
-Don't mess with Phoenixes, not even the babies are helpless.
-lol when the three pops out from their costume, ready to fight. Only to RUN.
-Peewee the phoenix now canon to the show?!


Not bad of an episode, but I felt Spike's true origins being left out was completely missing the point. Shown the teenage stage of dragons and possible species, but no hints on Spike's parents. Perhaps it can be explained in a Season 3 episode. Character wise, Rainbow Dash came off as especially caring/nice this episode. Felt very out of character. Was nice to see Fluttershy being more assertive, as well as Twilight apparently gaining more mastery over Teleporting magic. Around a 7~8/10 from me due to Dashie's character offness and lack of true Spike origins. Still a decent episode though. I'm amused at the addition of a new possible family member, Peewee the Phoenix.

[video=youtube;gvCk0n7Ggdo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gvCk0n7Ggdo[/video]

I'm feeling lazy today so I'm gonna copy a huge wall of text from someone on ponychan with an opinion I agree with:

JiiKoo!rOOvKniVLg Wrote:Ookay... I think I'll just drop my usual wall-of-wext here and be on my way. Though the storm of excrement seems to have passed while I was writing. Good thing. I'll still bring my blanket so I can hide under it.

So, first random things I noticed while watching the episode, then more free-form stuff after that.

*What is that blue ground Pinkie and AJ are digging through? Is the grass dead or something?
*Also what happened with Fluttershy's cottage? There's a tree missing and some apple trees have been planted.
*Flutters is again shown to be quite strong. Also that tackle on RD caught me completely off-guard, as did the finishing double stomp. I actually chuckled the first and second times through, not something you'd expect of Fluttershy. Seems like her assertiveness has stuck. Her opening the window was cute, too, reminded me of Iron Will knocking on her door.
*Fluttershy had a painting in her house she had at least in Bird in the Hoof, too. Haven't paid attention if it's in other episodes but was nice seeing it there.
*I have to say, Rarity's entrance was... something. I'll just leave it at that.
*Pinkie actually sounds like Flutters when she says the dragons are coming. First time through I thought it was Flutters and got my hopes up. But nope, Andrea must have slipped a bit.
*I don't get why RD claimed the dragons' moves were lame. One second she was admiring them and after a quick glance at AJ she claimed they were lame. Was she trying to impress her or something? Whatever it was, it backfired. Literally. I liked AJ's jab here. RD did set herself up for that one.
*Spike and his apron... I was actually surprised that AJ laughed at Spike. It didn't sound like friendly jabbing to me, it was almost insulting.
*And what's Rarity's deal? Is she teasing Spike or is she actually that fond of him? Spikey wikey and all that other stuff all episode long. Are we lead to believe there's something going on there?
*And then the preview clip in the library. It was a good scene, I liked.
*Spike magically teleported there, he slid down the mirror but when the camera zoomed out he was at least 3 Spike's length away from the mirror...
*Also Twi's room has been renovated, apparently.
*And Twi sure reads fast!
*Dragons are rare? Hey, you just saw hundreds of dragons fly over you that very same day. I suppose they must be only somewhat rare and not "rare" rare.
*I liked Twi's "teleport other" spell here. I wonder if she can teleport someone inside solid objects... Could be quite a weapon.
*Those smiles! They burn!
*I really like the bgm that plays on Spike's travel
*And that's either Cranky before he got to Ponyville or another donkey, apparently.
*Phoenixes, yay!
*Spike has a beard? Ah, it was fake! That explains.
*Big Red and the dragon of Everfree are there. Yay!
*I refuse to believe Rarity really designed that monstrosity and actually says it's one of her finer creations...
*Those teen dragons... *Sigh*
*Spike: I'm a dragon hear me rawr!
*Twi's dragon voice.
*"But I am a big pony!" "I am a real dragon!"
*Hmm, seems like differently coloured flames aren't that unusual after all. Green and blue, huh?
*Apparently the dragons don't respect the royal sisters at all. At least the teenagers. Interesting.
*I wonder what was in the letter. Others have said it might have been information about the upcoming wedding. We'll see.
*Crackle is best pony!
*Did RD just... bump her flank on Rarity's face? I'm too tired to keep weird imagery away...
*Rarity's "Ow." was funny.
*What the heck is that tail monster? It didn't have wings, so maybe a baby dragon, but that's one huge tail for a baby!
*And the adult dragons just watch as Spike slides down the wall. (Big Red!)
*Again, I might just be tired, but I don't hear Spike yelling "King of the Hoard!" especially as he slips before he pronounces the d. I hear something else.
*And Spike can apparently hold lava in his mouth. Good to know.
*...A bellyflop? That's the key to dragonhood? I seriously thought it was just a prank but no, they were actually serious.
*That's quite an initiation ritual, alright.
*I would have liked to see at least a bit of the dragon party. Now I think they only stuffed their faces...
*Dragon raid. G1 is strong in this one. Didn't turn out quite the same way, though.
*Those are some badass phoenix bombers!
*Apparently baby phoenixes are just as bad as grown-up ones...
*Phoenix used Flash! Looked quite nice, that.
*Those fighting stances, ugh. They hurt me.
*Rarity is quite protective of her "Spikey wikey". And violent!
*Apparently Twi failed her concentration check at first but luckily made it on the second try. Was nice to see a spell actually misfire. And a group teleport. She really is getting stronger...
*Aww, Spike's photographs. The last one is sort of sweet and sad at the same time.
*And then there's the egg of the future parasprite phoenix-pony. What could go wrong? I hope we see him again later on and he won't get the Tank treatment...


The episode as a whole... was okay. It had it's good moments but it had things I didn't like, too. Rarity's "Spikey wikey" and stuff really started to annoy me. It's fun when it's like one or two times in an episode but when it's actually repeated all the time with no apparent reason it gets irritating. Which leads me to the next point; is there something going on with Rarity and Spike. Seriously. I wanted more Spike and Rarity interaction but this is ridiculous. Personally, I didn't like Rarity in this episode. She was the "fabulous girl who praises Spike and calls him pet names all episode". That's pretty much her character here.

Speaking of Spike, I suppose he was quite good. He not reacting to Rarity at all was very weird, though. Okay, he did blush once. Earlier it seemed he had a burning love for her or something. What happened?

I've seen some comments about Rainbow in this episode. She didn't do much. Tried to force Fluttershy, got tackled and stomped. Called dragons lame, got burned. Oh, and apparently has gone a bit nutty sometimes. I don't know. She was was part jerk (the beginning), part "normal" Dash (after beginning). I think her laughing and insulting Spike at the beginning was mean. Didn't sound just like having harmless fun to me. And AJ hopped aboard. Seriously, the one pony I wouldn't have believed to do that did. Oh well, back to Dash. She was mostly the comic relief character in this episode what with the Flutterstomp and being burned and "We know"'d. I didn't see it as particularly bad, somebody has to be it.

Speaking of Flutterstomp. Dayumn, girl. Quite a combo she has there. And the strength to back it up. In TLR she was chosen as one of the wagon pullers for a reason and again she showed she has physical strength. Of course it becomes easier to resist moving against a doorframe but still. Also, seems like PYHD did leave a mark on her character. It could be because it was the same writer but it was great to see it still. Continuation is great. Too bad there wasn't much of Flutters otherwise but there's always next week.

Twi I think was pretty much in character, I didn't notice any issues with her. Neither did I notice anything special about her, either. She was just Twi being Twi. Also, Pinkie was Pinkie, but didn't have her word of the day which I really liked. Why was she so scared, though?

The teenage dragons I didn't like. They were clearly meant to be a stereotypical group of teenage boys, maybe even bullies, and I noticed it. I suppose they weren't really meant to be likable characters anyway, which suits me just fine. Such jerks who would kill phoenixes dead... And I just have to mention it again. A bellyflop? Seriously? Oh, and best pony Crackle made his/her/its first appearance.

This being a MWW episode I probably have to get that dealt with. This episode was good for her in that she could use a setting that she could morph however she wanted because it wasn't an established one. That's why changing my beloved Ponyville wasn't an issue this time. Except that weird empty area outside Ponyville with blue earth. What's up with that? And Flutters' cottage but I assume she had nothing to do with that. Her other problem is still there in that she makes the characters such extremes. When Rarity is affectionate she really is so. When RD is being a jerk she really is one. It does work in that it drives the point home but one could use the putter when they are in the green instead of the driver. Just saying.

Oh, the plot! It was okay. It was a quest of self-discovery as it was supposed to be. The ending was kinda abrupt and could have been something more. Instead it got into a climax and suddenly ended. It was also somewhat boring to be honest. There was no big problem until the last minutes, and it was solved very quickly with Twi's magic. It was a good choice that the ponies chose to run instead of brawling with dragons. Doesn't promote violence which is nice. I would have liked some more info on the dragons but I suppose we'll have to make do with what we have.

All in all, the episode was good-ish. Rarity really dropped the points here as did the overall feel of the episode. It just didn't have... the magicks! Probably the biggest thing this episode missed was character interaction. Sure there were the dragons but I didn't really care about them at all after a while and the ponies didn't really do anything. Therefore on a scale from 4-10 I'd give it a 7+ which Flutterstomp bumps up to 7½.

All I have to say is...
Crackles cracks me up.

I really like the commentary as well as the analysis put into the episode. Also helps put Merriweather episodes into perspective, that things do seem to swing between two somewhat extremes.

Not to mention Fluttertree, several Derpy appearances, Spitfire, the 50's educational video and the steroid pony.

I like how this plot is different than most Fluttershy episodes. It went towards to Fluttershy believing she is incompetence of flying fast and getting teased at for being useless, rather than OMG A BIG GIANT MONSTER IS HURTING/SCARING MY FRIENDS, I MUST DO SOMETHING. Every little thing counts, that's kinda of a good lesson. I like how Rainbow Dash tends to be there for Fluttershy and politely ask that she would attend the tornado event, usually I expect her to being a jerk about her slowness and refusal, but we know that's not what Rainbow Dash truly acts.

Nothing seems wrong with this episode. It was pretty straight-forward; no sudden Sonic Cuteboom from Fluttershy, her slightly speed boost was all needed to get the job done. Kinda wish we see that yellow-mane muscle-bound pegasus more often. Spike should've shut his yap, his words seems to discourage Fluttershy rather than helping, but at least it wasn't intended, he just wanted to be honest about the whole thing.

Fluttershy's crying and training montage still brought me to tears. The guitar for the montage is AWESOME!

-Fluttershy finally became a TREE!
-I chuckled heartily at the 50s instructional video. Plus apparently the movie projector is powered by MAGIC.
-Steroids Pony = lolWUT
-Was interesting to see Rainbow Dash had a pretty huge goal in mind.
-Sneezing pony. I feel quite a few others will get sick as well.
-Fluttershy faking sickness. I died from the cute, but oh wait it's Fluttershy I'd overload on cute regardless.
-Haha at Rainbow Dash's solution curing her "sickness". I feel that she knew she was faking.
-Only 0.5 wing power. I felt so bad for Fluttershy when she ran away in tears.
-TRAINING MONTAGE! But all that work only for ~2.5 wing power. Was sad it broke her confidence again.
-Man, lost quite a few pegasi. Only reached 750 wing power instead of the intended 1,000. Although since they only needed 800, I was still worrying Fluttershy is going to pull a Deus Ex Machina and generate 50 wing power out of her ass. Was glad it wasn't the case and instead the Pegasi gave 110% and reached 795, only needed a mere 5 wing power. Something that Fluttershy was able to realistically generate.

Overall: A very, very well written episode. Pacing didn't feel rushed at any point, and realistic goals and achievements were made. In my top 10 for this season for sure. 5/5 episode.