Fillies, Gentlecolts, and foals of all ages. Welcome to another edition of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Recap/Review. When we last left off in the first part of “The Crystal Empire”, we learned that Twilight was given the task of saving the crystal empire from being taken over once again by King Sombra, the tyrant that dominated the kingdom before. In trying to organize a crystal fair to restore the happiness of the crystal ponies, Twilight made a big goof by not getting the right crystal heart, and now King Sombra is on his way.
Recapped? Good. Now let’s review part 2, and get the pros and cons of this season premiere.
Twilight and Spike, kicking flank as a team
We open the episode right where we left off, with Sombra getting closer to the kingdom. Cadance uses what little power she has left to keep the forcefield up. But a piece of King Sombra’s horn still gets in, and starts to slowly infect the empire.
Twilight sets out to get the crystal heart, but feels she has to go it alone. She tells the other ponies to keep the crystal ponies distracted at the fair, and to make sure they don’t see the fake crystal heart.
Spike leans that Twilight is going to do this task alone, and decides to come with her, offering to not lift a claw. So, the duo head into the castle to find the heart, while Applejack guards the fake heart, Rarity makes baskets, Rainbow Dash and an unwilling Fluttershy joust, and Pinkie clowns around. Literally.
Applejack tries to keep the crystal ponies away from the phony heart
Inside the castle, Twilight finds a secret entrance inside what was once King Sombra’s throne room (by using a weird black magic spell she learned from Celestia in part 1). This takes her to a winding staircase down to a dark area at the bottom.
When she finally gets there, she finds a door that doesn’t want to stay still. She eventually opens the door, only to end up back in Princess Celestia’s throne room, with a cruel version of the princess, who instantly fails Twilight for not saving the crystal empire.
Spike manages to snap Twilight out of her funk, as we learn that the door shows whoever looks through it their ultimate fears. The duo manage to make it to another staircase, that now winds forever upwards. Twilight uses an anti-gravity spell to slide up to the top. Now that is an awesome use of magic.
Air Cadance is the only way to fly
Twilight and Spike find the crystal heart at the top of the stairs. However, just as that happens, the crowd is getting restless. And things get even worse thanks to Pinkie Pie, who accidentally reveals the fake heart. This causes fear and panic, as well as King Sombra to finally make his way into the empire.
He traps Twilight before she can take the heart to the center. With only one option remaining, she sends Spike to finish the job. But before Sombra can easily nab Spike, Shining Armor uses Cadance as a missile to catch Spike, and retrieve the crystal heart.
The crystal ponies use the power of love to destroy King Sombra once and for all (so at least we get our first villain death in the series. It also causes everypony to get a really nice crystal coat. Shining Armor and Cadance stay in the empire to help rule it and keep it safe.
Shiny happy ponies
The day is saved, but Twilight is still upset. Since it was technically Spike who saved the day, and not her, she fears that she may have failed the test given to her. However, Celestia still gives her a pass, for sacrificing her own success to ensure the safety of the crystal empire.
And so the episode ends with the ponies singing that Twilight was indeed prepared for this, as we seem to get more foreshadowing that this is certainly not the last task for Twilight Sparkle this season.
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So, we’ve certainly started with an interesting season premiere, but what worked, and what didn’t? Let’s break out the pros and cons for the first time this season.
PRO
I like the look of the Crystal Empire. From the differing of the pony designs (Sad, normal, or fully crystalised) to the general look of the world around it. I’ve said it countless times last season, that the one thing I love is seeing the different locations in Equestria, and how they work. And this one certainly did not disappoint.
It feels like despite the shorter season, they’re certainly planning something big for Twilight Sparkle. Especially considering one nice tidbit at the end of part 2 with Luna showing Celestia a certain book. Could we be seeing a future evolution for Twilight? We’ll let the future tell. But for now, it’s looking awesome.
The songs were awesome as always. Both the “failure/success” song, and the “ballad of the crystal ponies” fit the episode perfect. It’s also good to see that we didn’t have to wait too long for a song this season, unlike last season where we waited 7 episodes.
I also liked that while this was Twilight’s story, we didn’t make almost the entire focus on Twilight this time around. The other ponies all got their time in the sun. And I think just as importantly, Spike got his big moment of awesome on the show, which was great. It’s a short season, so they’ll need all the moments they can get.
CON
Let’s start with the most damning one. KING SOMBRA SUCKED! The show has given us a ton of villains so far. And pretty much every one of them was memorable for some reason or the other. Discord was crazy and chaotic, Queen Chrysalis had a pretty cool look, and a brilliant plan. Even The Great and Powerful Trixie was memorable as a villain. But Sombra? All he did in the whole 2 part special worth noting was loom and laugh maniacally. Yawn. Not to mention his design is the worst so far. Feeling very much like a lame fan creation instead of something that should join the show’s rogues gallery.
Okay, last season I was starting to finally let my feelings against Rainbow Dash subside in favor of what I felt was her finally cooling down as a character, and being more likeable. Well, Crystal Empire brought douche Dash back 100%. Not just in being impatient and pushy, but that whole scene with jousting Fluttershy just seemed really mean. I’m not the biggest Fluttershy defender, but she didn’t deserve any of that.
The pacing in the episode was a bit weird, and probably could have benefited from a third part. We could have made more of a build around the crystal empire’s history, given the villain some actual importance and character other than “Oh, he’s evil. That’s all you need to know”. And just feel like a story worth remembering. And that sadly wasn’t the case here.
And I think the most damning con is just that after a knock out of the park season finale last year, that it was going to be tough to top it, and sadly this two part episode just did not satisfy.
“The Crystal Empire” is an entertaining, albeit flawed, season premiere. There was still plenty of action, humor, and fun that the show has given us in the past, only certainly not in one of their stronger packages. But the season is still young, so we have 11 more episodes to see just what’s around the corner, and I’m still very optimistic.
RATING: 7.5 out of 10
Next week, if you thought dealing with Pinkie Pie was bad enough, get ready to deal with dozens of them. When Pinkie discovers the mirror pond, which can clone ponies, suddenly Ponyville has to deal with “Too Many Pinkie Pies”. Find out what happens next week.
Until next week everypony!