/pony/ - The Show

The theme of this episode is my favorite, and is summed up very simply by Conan O'brien in his farewell address on The Tonight Show:

Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work hard, and are nice, amazing things will happen. I'm telling you.

The "hard work" is of course everything leading up to the end of the season–all the struggle and learning of the characters to arrive at a group identity which is bigger than a sum of the parts. Notice how the cast is dressed up in a way which accentuates each individual personality; notice also the Cinderella elements woven into the story. Sometimes we have to let go of what we want (the best night ever) to get what we want (the best night ever). A fitting send-off for a show that surprised the expectations of most of its audience.

>>415831
One of best qualities season 1 had over the others is it built to a grand event, the gala. The first to episodes introduced all the characters and who they were, then the show moved immediately to the gala in episode three. The dresses Rarity made again reminded us it was coming, and we saw them appear here and there again as the season moved on, until it finally concluded in this episode.

Season two had a huge miss on this level with it's sudden surprise wedding bomb finale that left everyone asking "Twilight has a brother?" No setup, no rising action. Shining Armor could have at least been mentioned earlier.

I hope season 4 returns to this overarching plot setup, so we can enjoy a nice slow build to all the other ponies becoming Alicorns while Cadence gives birth to Princess Skyla in a pool of Sea Ponies and Brad rides Twilight off into the cosmos, rifting on his guitar.

>>415836
As much as I may hate those ideas individually, tossed together all at once like that might be hilarious.