Fillies, gentlecolts, and foals of all ages, welcome once again to another edition of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Recap/Review. When we last left our story…
Twilight Sparkle and her friends had been sent to Canterlot for the wedding of her brother Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. After Twlight’s suspicions of Cadenza being evil was met with anger by her friends and her brother, her attempt to apologize to Cadence was met with the revelation that hey, Twilight was right. But is this the real Mi Amore Cadenza? Let’s roll into the conclusion of “A Canterlot Wedding”.
"Mi Amore Cadenza" Taunts Twilight
We open part two with Twilight trapped within the caves underneath Canterlot Castle. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza trapped her there so she wouldn’t interfere any more with her evil plan. She taunts Twilight with laughter as Twilight tries to blast her way out. In her blasting, she breaks a wall revealing Mi Amore Cadenza.
However, Twilight soon discovers that this is the real Princess Cadance, and that the other one is an impostor. We get another song, as both Cadances sing about the upcoming wedding. The evil one singing about using Shining Armor, and never truly loving him, while the good one sings about wanting to save Shining Armor in time before the I do’s happen. Twilight and Cadance manage to make it out of the caves in time to stop the wedding (after dealing with some possessed bridesmaids of course). Cadance tells everyone what the impostor truly is.
The real Cadance found
The impostor is a creature known as a changeling, a creature that takes the form of another, and feeds off the love of others. This angers the impostor Cadance enough to reveal her true form. She is the queen of the changelings, and she set up this whole rouse to use Equestria as a feeding ground for her minions, since Equestria has more love than anywhere else she’s encountered. She pretended to be Princess Cadance in order to brainwash Shining Armor so he could slowly weaken in magic power, destroying the forcefield keeping her changeling minions out of Canterlot.
The impostor's true form, the Changeling Queen
Princess Celestia tries her best to battle with the Changeling Queen, but is quickly defeated. Princess Celestia tells the mane six that the only thing that might stop her is the elements of harmony. Our heroes set off to collect them, but as they do, the changelings manage to break through the forcefield. Our six heroes try valiantly to fight off the horde of changelings (which is in the hundreds of thousands). This is made worse when the changelings transform into clones of the mane six. But our heroes fight them off as best they can (Pinkie even using Twilight as a gattling gun), as they head to get the elements. However, they soon are overwhelmed by changelings, and are captured.
With what looks to be her victory, the Changeling Queen gloats about her victory, which gives Twilight enough time to free Cadance. She breaks Shining Armor from the spell that was placed on him, and the two unite together to use their powers to defeat the Changeling Queen, sending the queen and her minions flying into the far distant horizon.
The happy couple in their first married embrace
With the day saved, the two finally are able to have the real ceremony. They are happily pronounced husband and wife, and kiss. The episode ends with a big party, as the happy new couple prepare to head off for their honeymoon. Twilight and Shining Armor share an embrace, as Cadance throws the bouquet (Which Rarity quickly grabs). And everything ends happily ever after, as any good wedding, and any good season should.
Well, we certainly got a big finale on our hands, but did it deliver as we’d hope. Time to hit up the final Pros and Cons for the season.
PRO
First off, this whole episode delivered on a great story, with nearly perfect placing. Yeah, one issue some could say is that the idea of an impostor bride/groom has been done before, in so many different ways, but the way this episode handled it was perfect, especially with how they revealed the villain by the end of it all.
Speaking of the villain, I absolutely love the Changeling Queen as a villain. She’s exactly what the show was missing for the most part since Discord in the beginning of the season. A villain that was not just some shyster like the Flim Flam brothers, or a natural bully like Diamond Tiara. We were desperately missing a major threat to the ponies and Equestria through this season. And the fact that neither her or her army have been destroyed, or turned to stone, gives some hope that we may see them again. This show need recurring villains bad, and these would be perfect.
You know well enough that this season finale wouldn’t be complete without some songs. And the ones we got for this finale were perfect. The villain song (known as “This Day Aria”) comes close to the level of a Disney villain song. Daniel Ingram has given us some great stuff all series long, and especially through this season, and as expected, he saved some of the best for last.
I also enjoyed the characters of Cadance and Shining Armor. I will admit the characters do suffer from Sue/Stu issues, but they were far more minor than they could have been for how they were presented by Hasbro, and their major push in the merchandise, which is on its way soon. Hopefully this isn’t the last we see of them.
CON
I will say one issue that this episode did suffer from is that for the most part, Twilight aside, the rest of the mane six seemed very useless in the episode, which is a shame. However, I say this is a minor issue because they weren’t entirely needed to move the story along. So, while a con, not one that hurt the episode in the grand scheme of things.
To be honest, there really is one big con I can give…THIS IS THE LAST EPISODE OF SEASON 2!!!
“A Canterlot Wedding” was one of the best season finales of any cartoon ever. It delivered in story, action, and in the elements that makes this show so great, and what makes me anticipate seeing more of this series go on. Both of these episodes are MLP at its highest quality, and are must watches for anyone, brony, casual fan, or someone just getting into the show to see what the hype is about. And with that said, there is only one fair rating to give both parts of this episode.
RATING: 10 out of 10
And that’s it for season 2 episodes. But we have one more article left for this season. And that’s to give the final thoughts on this whole epic season. What was amazing, and what flopped? Find out in the Season 2 Wrap-Up.
Until next time Bronies and Pegasisters.