art by DocWario

In the previous episode “Celestial Advice”, the writers set up the season to come. This episode follows on the promise of that episode, and may be an indication of what we can expect in seasons to come.

Since the beginning, the Mane Six have been the focus of the show. But even back in the first season, they were not the sole option for an episode focus. I don’t believe Starlight is meant to make the Mane Six into the Mane Seven. Rather, this episode leaves me with the hopeful impression that Starlight and her friends may become a third group whose characters get regular episode focus, much like the Mane Six and the CMC. Those two groups will still have their roles, and the Mane Six will still be the main characters of the show, but after six seasons, it is natural and necessary for the show to expand.

I welcome this. The show, at its core, teaches. And many lessons or problems that an episode could be written about would feel badly out-of-character if they tried to apply it to any of the Mane Six after so many seasons of growth and development. The central issue of this episode, for instance, would have felt forced and wrong if applied to any of them. Having an expanded cast means they have new characters to develop who come with their own sets of strengths and weaknesses, and with whom stories like “All Bottled Up” could be crafted.

art by Ferasor

In “All Bottled Up”, the metaphor becomes literal: Starlight is bottling up her anger to prevent herself from lashing out dangerously at Trixie.

This was on-the-nose in a way I found delightful. (I loved how shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer would use magic or the supernatural to thrust an intangible character issue into the literal forefront. Characters are having trouble communicating? Have the town invaded by monsters that steal everyone’s voices. Characters are bottling up their emotions? Have a demon curse everyone to openly sing how they feel, musical-style.)

Spike channeling Littlepip.

(Seriously, “Wait. What?” was her response to situations over a dozen times over the course of Fallout: Equestria.)

Let’s be clear: the lesson here isn’t that you should have immediately lash out at people who upset you. If Starlight had responded with an uncontrolled outburst, that wouldn’t have been any better than what she did do. Rather, the lesson here is that bottling up your anger isn’t a healthy or safe alternative.

When you bottle your anger, several things are likely to happen, none of them good. First, just the act of doing so is unhealthy and exhausting. In the episode, we see Starlight deteriorate as she continues to bottle up her emotions. In the end, she as left herself unable to feel much of anything other than weariness; and since her magic is fueled by her emotions, when she is called upon to use magic, she can’t. In the very least, bottling up your emotions is draining, and you will leave yourself unable to function as the sort of friend you could and should be.

Second, the person who is committing the offending behavior will simply continue to do so. Without any indication that they are doing something wrong, why would their behavior change. While lashing out isn’t the answer, communication and even confrontation is necessary in order to deal with this kind of problem.

Now, some may take issue with Trixie in the episode, and her obliviousness and self-centered attitude were definitely dialed up for the sake of the story. But not necessarily too much so. Trixie uses her egotistical persona to mask serious self-esteem issues; and this episode begins with her conquering one of her major self-perceived failings: an inability to do “real magic”. Of course she is proud and elated! And in that state, it is rather natural for her self-absorbed character flaws to be augmented. And it would naturally require effort to get through to her. Effort Starlight refused to make because she was afraid of offending and losing her friend. This is also perfectly in-character for Starlight who has struggled with losing friends.

Finally, if you bottle up your anger, it is bound to explode. Carrying around all that anger makes you less capable of feeling anything else, while putting you on more and more of a hair-trigger. As the episode progresses, Starlight has to bottle her anger more and more frequently, and for increasingly more trivial reasons. When your bottle does break, your anger is going to hit whomever is convenient – not necessarily the person who your real issues are with, or even someone who has done anything wrong. Innocent bystanders tend to become victims of your almost-inevitable tantrum.

This episode also carried with it a second lesson, and one which closed out the arc beautifully: good friendships are stronger than a few angry words. If your friend is upsetting you, chances are that he or she is unaware of it and doesn’t want to. Behavior can be hard to change, so knowing isn’t a sure recipe for fixing the problem; but they would rather know they are upsetting you than continue to do so obliviously. And everyone gets upset at times, so friends are likely to be understanding. That’s part of the job description of friendship: you’re there as an ear to vent to and a shoulder to cry on.

Starlight’s and Trixie’s relationship is an immensely enjoyable thing to watch. I loved the reconciliation at the end. And yes, Trixie’s “The Starlight I love is passionate...” had a delightful ambiguity. But I loved that line even more for how Trixie pointed out her preference of Starlight as she normally is over the pony Starlight had been becoming.

art by Akainu7

The episode was clearly written by the same people [insert names here] who wrote “Celestial Advice”, as they used the same dialogue juxtaposition technique in each. (“Aw, nuts!” “AHHHH!” “Nuts!”) I enjoyed that. I also enjoyed that we got to see the Mane Six on their Friendship Retreat. The incredibly bored employee was fun, and it was nice that the show subverted my expectations, with the Mane Six completing the Escape Room puzzles in record time. It was also funny to see them ultimately thwarted by their habit of breaking into song.

There were a couple notes of disappointment in the Mane Six’s part of the episode. The first came in the reactions to learning about the Escape Room. Like Celestia’s Ponyville in the last episode, I can forgive not giving the characters individualized initial reactions as a point of expediency. But that collective “aww” seemed inappropriate. In the very least, Rainbow Dash’s reaction to the Daring Do style Escape Room should have been more unique. And I would have expected Pinkie to be more enthusiastic about what amounts to a group game.

My other issue was with the repeated animations during the chorus. As you may remember, I had a lot of admiration for “Spice Up Your Life”. To this day, the duplication of animation in the song is the only real issue I have with that episode. And so I was disappointed to see it happen again. I’m sure it was necessary due to time constraints or resources or something, but it just feels lazy and makes the song less re-watchable. To be fair, I didn’t really care for the song either. Usually, I love the songs, but this one just fell flat. This was more like a parody of an MLP song. (Which, in a way, is fitting, considering how it ends and the lesson learned.)

Designed by Quibble Pants?

art by Pixelkitties

Leftover Puzzle Pieces:

Trixie struggling with teacup transformation was cute as hell. I loved Starlight teaching her ("Maybe it's because you're just yelling 'TEACUP'..."), and Trixie's elation at finally casting a transfiguration spell. The teacup flurry that followed was hilarious.

I loved the animation of Trixie's hair as she teacupped the pitcher.

"Come on, be impressed by me!" And Trixie really is great at having great hair.

This is a teacup poodle.

And now I'm wondering what became of the living orange back in "Boast Busters".

Trixie has gone all her life without being able to cast magic. Literally a few seconds of instruction from Starlight is enough to turn that around. She is an amazingly quick study. Has it been that all along, Trixie has just suffered from a lack of a good teacher?

Remember my reaction back in "To Where and Back Again" regarding Trixie and the invisibility spell? (As mentioned in this blog.) Same reaction when Trixie's first choice for magic tutoring was a disappearing spell.

"Magic is friendship and stuff."

"Let's pick something, I don't know, not living?" Thank you, Starlight!

Spike washing all the teacups.

"Griffins barely like each other. We're basically the poster ponies for amazing friendships." Rainbow Dash is right, which makes me wonder if they griffins did well because they were in a hurry to get out and away from each other. Or if they just had Gabby on the team.

As someone with a degree in Fine Art, I am very aware of the difference between "plum" and "boysenberry" and I'm terribly curious as to which one Rarity finds icky.

My favorite scene was Trixie asking if Starlight was all right. It showed she wasn't completely oblivious and that she cares about her friend. And thanks to having been sick the last week, "L'ch-bleh-behhh" is my favorite new word.

Rainbow Dash has a coupon for the spa.

I like the new logo.