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Oh god. I had no choice but to enter this episode with very low expectations. Rarity has a crush. Rarity meets crush. Crush crushes on Applejack. Applejack doesn't crush back. I...uh, forgot what crush means. Ugh. How can an episode about Rarity liking a boy really be enjoyable? I'm not one to say that anything of the sort is bad and should be left out of the show. I mean, Spike crushing on Rarity is fine, and we have an actual relationship in Cadence and Shining Armor. So it's not inherently a bad thing. It's just that the premise of such an episode does not appeal to a lot of people, including me. The spoiler clips didn't help, and the one with Trenderhoof seeing Applejack for the first time was really creepy. But I'll get to that.

It starts with the picking of the "Ponyville Day Pony of Ceremony", which is...something? I don't know. It basically just means that the winner gets to put together the celebration. And the winner is...Rarity? I must say, I did not see that coming. I would have figured Pinkie Pie, or maybe even Applejack, assuming I didn't already kind of know what the episode was going to be about. We also see another reference back to Granny Smith being around for the founding of Ponyville. Since we still don't know when that was, there isn't really anything else to go on. She's old, that's all we know. Rarity gets a bouquet of flowers from an interesting pony. I'm not versed on all the background characters, so forgive me if it's a commonly seen pony. But she seems to have some kind of gems as a cutie mark. Could it be some kind of relative to Rarity? Eh, maybe not, I'm probably just reading too much into it. Oh, but we see Bulk Biceps in the forefront. An odd choice to put there. He has a unique design, so it's not like the storyboarders just threw in a random pallet of colors. He was intended to be there. Just exactly how much attention is he supposed to be getting now? Is he going to end up as a minor character, getting promoted from a backgrounder?

So, one small thing that happens next. Once the credits roll, the scene opens with the group minus Rarity waiting at the end of a small stage. We see Pinkie Pie jumping up and down. Which, we see her do all the time. But here, for a split second, it's completely dead silent, not even music in the background. All we hear is the "sproingy" of her bounces. It's awesome.

Speaking of the little things, Spike's notes actually having lines in them was a neat touch. I kind of stared at them instead of listening to him. Don't worry though, Spike, I still love you.

I will admit here that I don't know anything about fashion. But I don't see how anything I've seen Rarity design be considered "small town chic". Something "small town" would probably be a little more sensible, not the extravagant dresses she's usually seen making. And nothing looks different in this episode either.

And here's where Rarity's crush begins. We see a very similar explanation that she gave when she first explained who Prince Blueblood was. We also see a similar pattern with how she deals with the pony when they meet. With Blueblood, Rarity did everything she could to tolerate him. Instead of just saying right off the bat, "wow, this guy's a dick", she followed him around and tried to make it work. It showed a little immaturity in Rarity that said to me that she wasn't as adult or mature as some of the other ponies. Here, she's willing to act as something she's not in order to impress her crush. In this case, it's actually worse, because she's trying to be something she's not. At least with Blueblood, you could argue she was looking past his flaws and trying to find the good. She probably wasn't, but still. With Trenderhoof, Rarity seemed willing to do ANYTHING to get him to notice her. This is the inherent problem I have with an episode about a "crush". We see these characters and think of them as young adults, mostly. We want to see them making mature decisions, and not acting like children. There can easily be an episode about a character falling for another, and having a mature relationship with. It may be boring, but it can be achieved. This kind of crush is just way too...juvenile. Maybe it fits for the lesson to be learned, but it doesn't fit the characters. And yes, that includes Rarity, who is easily the most dramatic.

And then we finally see Trenderhoof, as he gets off the train. He's...I don't know. From a pony perspective, I don't think he's even that attractive. I think Rarity is attracted to his status. So we go back to Blueblood. And the problem with Rarity. She's shown before more than once that she's a small town pony. But she still crushes after these big name fashion ponies, who aren't even remotely interested in her or worth her time. You would think that at this point, she would be more inclined to go for a more low-key pony. Maybe somebody a little more local? Maybe a pony trapped in a baby dragon's body? No? Ok.

So here we get to the creepy scene I mentioned earlier. Trend gets distracted by Applejack, who is shown with some love notes in the background, a nice tunnel vision look with apples straight at her, and her sweating and eating an apple. It's...still creepy, but in the context of the show, it's not as much. I love the way Rarity says "who, Applejack?". Then again, while Rarity is a hard pony to like, you have to be in awe of the talented Tabitha St. Germain. Even when starting watching the show well over two years ago, I hated Rarity, but always commented on how she had the best voice. Anyway, yeah, the scene is just a little too...suggestive? Something in that range. I think it could have been toned down a bit.

Hey, look, Rarity's crying again. And no matter how genuine it is, it still sounds like she's just being overly dramatic. Oh...she is. WAY too dramatic. I mean, again, this is why I have a problem with this premise of an episode. Rarity is acting like a child. Really badly. When Spike is basically telling you to deal with it, you know something is wrong. Spike IS a child, he has the right to act as such. And even still, he's handling a crush a lot better than Rarity can. The sad part is, it doesn't feel out of character for her. I wish it were. I KNOW she's more mature than that, to handle something so trivial as "the guy I like likes somepony else". But I can see her just trembling and falling apart at the notion.

Trenderhoof is kind of annoying, isn't he? Talk about somebody who can't handle a crush. Applejack has got to be thinking, "just get this guy the hell away from me". But he doesn't. ...Huh. You know, he said he takes things and makes them relevant. Pointing at Derpy when he says "the unappreciated". And he "makes it relate-able". "Enough about me, what about you? What do apples mean to Applejack". Oh. My. Celestia. He took an unappreciated character made it relate-able. He starts trends. He's annoyingly asking AJ questions about her job. TRENDERHOOF IS REPRESENTING THE BRONY FANDOM! It's so clear to me now! Oh god. That just doesn't feel like an accident either. I think I just broke the code.

I...I'm ok now. Back to the show. Rarity has a new getup, that's supposed to make Trenderhoof like her? No. It's full of jewels and stuff. It looks ridiculous, but not even close to anything that AJ would wear. To Rarity's credit, she's been more than ok with getting physical when the time comes. She fought with the manticore, she fought the changelings, and she would have probably fought the dragons tormenting Spike. So I can actually see her giving applebucking a try.

Rarity seems mad at Applejack. Why? Because she's trying to attract Trend? At what point does Rarity come to this conclusion. It was obvious at the point he met her that Trend was into AJ. And Applejack flat out tells her she doesn't give a crap about Trend. You should, I don't know, trust Applejack to tell the truth. You DO know your friends, right?

"Because I know you." THANK YOU Applejack. You don't have a problem with paying attention after years and knowing your friends. I feel sorry for you. Rarity is, if anything, being rather prejudice here. She's overacting the idea of a "country pony" so far it's borderline racist. Instead of attempting to emulate her, it comes across as an insult. It also makes me wonder. Applejack and Rarity were the most opposite of the main characters. They made up early on in the series, but they are also the two that are never seen together. I think Rarity merely tolerates Applejack, and has held a grudge the whole time. Maybe Applejack too, but certainly not to the extent of Rarity.

So Rarity learns the lesson and saves the day. Trend won't be seen again, and all is well. But did Rarity really learn her lesson? I've already talked about it. Rarity has an issue with picking the wrong ponies to crush on, and still has an issue with how to deal with it. I can't imagine Rarity going to Spike for advice, but it feels really sad that it makes sense.

I forgot. The pacing of this episode felt...off. The conflict didn't really start until near the end of the episode. Yeah, Trend liked AJ early on, but Rarity didn't come to blows with her until the end. It felt like the episode was going to be about the celebration, but they realized it wouldn't work well enough. It was too boring or too short, or both. So they threw in the Trend thing.

Oh yeah, one last thing. I've decided that each episode I will rate what I will call the "Pinkie Factor". Each episode, Pinkie Pie has a couple one-liners that are obviously meant for just comic relief. Sometimes, they're written well, sometimes not. And sometimes the randomness is just a little too crazy. This episode, she has a couple things in the beginning. Were they funny? Eh, not really. But it wasn't over-the-top, and even stayed relevant to what was going on. So it gets a passing grade.

So was the episode enjoyable? Not to me. I will say I like Spike this time. Not that I don't usually, but he kind of made the episode to me. And it all fit, since he's had his long-standing crush on Rarity. And while the episode wasn't as terrible as I was expecting, it still ended up bad. A schoolyard-style crush while Rarity acted like a child. Not really all that fun.

Description
Oh god. I had no choice but to enter this episode with very low expectations. Rarity has a crush. Rarity meets crush. Crush crushes on Applejack. Applejack doesn't crush back. I...uh, forgot what crush means. Ugh. How can an episode about Rarity liking a boy really be enjoyable? I'm not one to say that anything of the sort is bad and should be left out of the show. I mean, Spike crushing on Rarity is fine, and we have an actual relationship in Cadence and Shining Armor. So it's not inherently a bad thing. It's just that the premise of such an episode does not appeal to a lot of people, including me. The spoiler clips didn't help, and the one with Trenderhoof seeing Applejack for the first time was really creepy. But I'll get to that.

It starts with the picking of the "Ponyville Day Pony of Ceremony", which is...something? I don't know. It basically just means that the winner gets to put together the celebration. And the winner is...Rarity? I must say, I did not see that coming. I would have figured Pinkie Pie, or maybe even Applejack, assuming I didn't already kind of know what the episode was going to be about. We also see another reference back to Granny Smith being around for the founding of Ponyville. Since we still don't know when that was, there isn't really anything else to go on. She's old, that's all we know. Rarity gets a bouquet of flowers from an interesting pony. I'm not versed on all the background characters, so forgive me if it's a commonly seen pony. But she seems to have some kind of gems as a cutie mark. Could it be some kind of relative to Rarity? Eh, maybe not, I'm probably just reading too much into it. Oh, but we see Bulk Biceps in the forefront. An odd choice to put there. He has a unique design, so it's not like the storyboarders just threw in a random pallet of colors. He was intended to be there. Just exactly how much attention is he supposed to be getting now? Is he going to end up as a minor character, getting promoted from a backgrounder?

So, one small thing that happens next. Once the credits roll, the scene opens with the group minus Rarity waiting at the end of a small stage. We see Pinkie Pie jumping up and down. Which, we see her do all the time. But here, for a split second, it's completely dead silent, not even music in the background. All we hear is the "sproingy" of her bounces. It's awesome.

Speaking of the little things, Spike's notes actually having lines in them was a neat touch. I kind of stared at them instead of listening to him. Don't worry though, Spike, I still love you.

I will admit here that I don't know anything about fashion. But I don't see how anything I've seen Rarity design be considered "small town chic". Something "small town" would probably be a little more sensible, not the extravagant dresses she's usually seen making. And nothing looks different in this episode either.

And here's where Rarity's crush begins. We see a very similar explanation that she gave when she first explained who Prince Blueblood was. We also see a similar pattern with how she deals with the pony when they meet. With Blueblood, Rarity did everything she could to tolerate him. Instead of just saying right off the bat, "wow, this guy's a dick", she followed him around and tried to make it work. It showed a little immaturity in Rarity that said to me that she wasn't as adult or mature as some of the other ponies. Here, she's willing to act as something she's not in order to impress her crush. In this case, it's actually worse, because she's trying to be something she's not. At least with Blueblood, you could argue she was looking past his flaws and trying to find the good. She probably wasn't, but still. With Trenderhoof, Rarity seemed willing to do ANYTHING to get him to notice her. This is the inherent problem I have with an episode about a "crush". We see these characters and think of them as young adults, mostly. We want to see them making mature decisions, and not acting like children. There can easily be an episode about a character falling for another, and having a mature relationship with. It may be boring, but it can be achieved. This kind of crush is just way too...juvenile. Maybe it fits for the lesson to be learned, but it doesn't fit the characters. And yes, that includes Rarity, who is easily the most dramatic.

And then we finally see Trenderhoof, as he gets off the train. He's...I don't know. From a pony perspective, I don't think he's even that attractive. I think Rarity is attracted to his status. So we go back to Blueblood. And the problem with Rarity. She's shown before more than once that she's a small town pony. But she still crushes after these big name fashion ponies, who aren't even remotely interested in her or worth her time. You would think that at this point, she would be more inclined to go for a more low-key pony. Maybe somebody a little more local? Maybe a pony trapped in a baby dragon's body? No? Ok.

So here we get to the creepy scene I mentioned earlier. Trend gets distracted by Applejack, who is shown with some love notes in the background, a nice tunnel vision look with apples straight at her, and her sweating and eating an apple. It's...still creepy, but in the context of the show, it's not as much. I love the way Rarity says "who, Applejack?". Then again, while Rarity is a hard pony to like, you have to be in awe of the talented Tabitha St. Germain. Even when starting watching the show well over two years ago, I hated Rarity, but always commented on how she had the best voice. Anyway, yeah, the scene is just a little too...suggestive? Something in that range. I think it could have been toned down a bit.

Hey, look, Rarity's crying again. And no matter how genuine it is, it still sounds like she's just being overly dramatic. Oh...she is. WAY too dramatic. I mean, again, this is why I have a problem with this premise of an episode. Rarity is acting like a child. Really badly. When Spike is basically telling you to deal with it, you know something is wrong. Spike IS a child, he has the right to act as such. And even still, he's handling a crush a lot better than Rarity can. The sad part is, it doesn't feel out of character for her. I wish it were. I KNOW she's more mature than that, to handle something so trivial as "the guy I like likes somepony else". But I can see her just trembling and falling apart at the notion.

Trenderhoof is kind of annoying, isn't he? Talk about somebody who can't handle a crush. Applejack has got to be thinking, "just get this guy the hell away from me". But he doesn't. ...Huh. You know, he said he takes things and makes them relevant. Pointing at Derpy when he says "the unappreciated". And he "makes it relate-able". "Enough about me, what about you? What do apples mean to Applejack". Oh. My. Celestia. He took an unappreciated character made it relate-able. He starts trends. He's annoyingly asking AJ questions about her job. TRENDERHOOF IS REPRESENTING THE BRONY FANDOM! It's so clear to me now! Oh god. That just doesn't feel like an accident either. I think I just broke the code.

I...I'm ok now. Back to the show. Rarity has a new getup, that's supposed to make Trenderhoof like her? No. It's full of jewels and stuff. It looks ridiculous, but not even close to anything that AJ would wear. To Rarity's credit, she's been more than ok with getting physical when the time comes. She fought with the manticore, she fought the changelings, and she would have probably fought the dragons tormenting Spike. So I can actually see her giving applebucking a try.

Rarity seems mad at Applejack. Why? Because she's trying to attract Trend? At what point does Rarity come to this conclusion. It was obvious at the point he met her that Trend was into AJ. And Applejack flat out tells her she doesn't give a crap about Trend. You should, I don't know, trust Applejack to tell the truth. You DO know your friends, right?

"Because I know you." THANK YOU Applejack. You don't have a problem with paying attention after years and knowing your friends. I feel sorry for you. Rarity is, if anything, being rather prejudice here. She's overacting the idea of a "country pony" so far it's borderline racist. Instead of attempting to emulate her, it comes across as an insult. It also makes me wonder. Applejack and Rarity were the most opposite of the main characters. They made up early on in the series, but they are also the two that are never seen together. I think Rarity merely tolerates Applejack, and has held a grudge the whole time. Maybe Applejack too, but certainly not to the extent of Rarity.

So Rarity learns the lesson and saves the day. Trend won't be seen again, and all is well. But did Rarity really learn her lesson? I've already talked about it. Rarity has an issue with picking the wrong ponies to crush on, and still has an issue with how to deal with it. I can't imagine Rarity going to Spike for advice, but it feels really sad that it makes sense.

I forgot. The pacing of this episode felt...off. The conflict didn't really start until near the end of the episode. Yeah, Trend liked AJ early on, but Rarity didn't come to blows with her until the end. It felt like the episode was going to be about the celebration, but they realized it wouldn't work well enough. It was too boring or too short, or both. So they threw in the Trend thing.

Oh yeah, one last thing. I've decided that each episode I will rate what I will call the "Pinkie Factor". Each episode, Pinkie Pie has a couple one-liners that are obviously meant for just comic relief. Sometimes, they're written well, sometimes not. And sometimes the randomness is just a little too crazy. This episode, she has a couple things in the beginning. Were they funny? Eh, not really. But it wasn't over-the-top, and even stayed relevant to what was going on. So it gets a passing grade.

So was the episode enjoyable? Not to me. I will say I like Spike this time. Not that I don't usually, but he kind of made the episode to me. And it all fit, since he's had his long-standing crush on Rarity. And while the episode wasn't as terrible as I was expecting, it still ended up bad. A schoolyard-style crush while Rarity acted like a child. Not really all that fun.