art by Circus-Cinnamon

“The Times They Are a Changeling”… what a great title. Bob Dylan reference for the win. (I felt a Davie Bowie reference within the episode too with “ch-ch-ch-ch-changeling!”) This show has often had fun titles (“Crusaders of the Lost Mark” is still probably my favorite), but Season Six has been extra generous with them.

Like a lot of the brony community, I was excited just to learn about the name of this episode. I’ve been wanting to see the return of changelings for a long time. (The little teaser in “Slice of Life” only stoked the desire for the show to revisit them, as did the alternate timeline in “The Cutie Re-Mark”.) The almost-stealth appearance of the changeling in the background of the premiere had the fandom nervouscited with anticipation. This is possibly one of the most anticipated returns in My Little Pony… and I absolutely wasn’t expecting it to be a Spike episode.

It is interesting that the changeling teased in the premiere came back mid-season like this. It makes me wonder if this is stand-alone episode, or one building towards the finale? At this point, I am expecting the finale to involve changelings, the baby and/or the cutie map. I don’t know which, how, or in what combination. But to quote Spike:

“I don't know if I should be excited or scared to find out.”

And what a Spike episode it was! Season Six has absolutely been the best for episodes focused on his character. We have had two Spike episodes this season, and they have both been amazing. He hasn’t been used as a punchline. There has been real character development. They made Spike’s reputation as a hero and his need for his pony family’s approval an essential element of the conflict. Spike had to put something incredibly important to him on the line to help a friend. He risked everything.

He faltered. That was painful. The scene brought tears to my eyes. But he got back up, and he fought to make it right. He faced the fire, and did what he should have done the first time, with full conviction. And full recognition of his failure.

from DJ Pon3, Fallout: Equestria:

”The true mark of a hero is not that they never fail, never fall down… No, you know a true hero by what they do after they fall. By the way they pick themselves back up again, shake themselves off, and throw themselves back into that good fight. Despite what they done, and despite the bleak prospects of a happy ending.

Full and complete respect for Spike in this episode.

More thoughts below the break.

“Tear Down the Walls”

art by Jowybean

Spike got a song! A real song, not something just designed for cringe or to make him the butt of a joke. I was quite happy to see that. It’s past time he got a good song (especially after the Equestrian Games).

At the core of the song was the message that we need to remember and believe that people can change. Personally, I found the line “a changeling can change” a little odd with the racial component. But then, this episode, ostensibly about racism and prejudice, managed to present a far more morally complex conflict.

This episode is incredibly timely. Maybe changelings just lend themselves to tackling some of the themes of morality and social mentality that have become so volatile recently. Certainly, when I started “Fallout: Beyond Equestria” several years ago, I couldn’t have known how pointedly it would critique our current political discourse to have post-apocalyptic changelings evolve to feed on the twisted love of nationalism and secretly work to stoke nationalistic culture. I wonder how long ago this episode was planned and if the writers knew how relevant it would be to the show’s adult audience when it aired.

“We're going to build a wall around the Crystal Empire and make Queen Chrysalis pay for it.”

But for all the chords of responsibility and sacrifice, racism and prejudice, the core moral of this episode was exceptionally simple:

Give people a chance.

There is a point when you have to stop giving people chances. But that point should never be before you’ve even met them. Reputation never tells the whole story, a truth we see play out on multiple levels in this episode.

“Defeating a changeling would be brave… but do you know what would be glorious?” I really think Spike hit on just the right play on his reputation here.

The episode touched none-to-lightly on themes of racism and prejudice. The racial overtones of the conflict were driven home with Thorax’s “looks like this” scene.

Prejudice. But not just the blind prejudice of “Bridal Gossip” – here we see ponies who were personally harmed, and who have reason to be suspicious and angry. They are holding the entire species as guilty, and we don’t even know that they are entirely wrong to do so. Chrysalis may be the only changeling queen, and the invasion force may have actually been their entire species. Certainly, Thorax had been part of that attack. IF that is the case and they knew it, one could argue that it is not even really prejudice that the ponies were acting on.

Thorax had been on the side of the villains. He had been an enemy combatant. And you are not excused from responsibility for your actions because you were “just following orders”. Thorax was worthy of a chance not because he was being unfairly associated with the changelings who attacked Canterlot, but because he had changed.

Even his own words, that he couldn't live with his own kind anymore, strongly suggests he is effectively unique. ("Kevin" notwithstanding.)

Still, I would have to argue that the conflict in this episode was clearly one of racism. When Shining Armor made his “no such thing as a good changeling” speech, he listed the villainous actions of Chrysalis. Thorax isn’t Chrysalis. Shining Armor wasn’t against Thorax because of what Thorax had done, but because of what he was. Holding the actions of a few against an entire group, treating them as a homogeneous entity, is prejudice. And when that group is a race, that’s racism. Making judgments about the content of someone’s character based on their ethnicity is always wrong, even if the judgment itself happens to be correct.

I tackled similar issues in Fallout: Equestria. From the first line of the prologue, with Littlepip’s curious use of the word “people” rather than the homocentric “ponies”, we get a hint of the character growth that is to come. Both Calamity and SteelHooves suffer from the xenophobic tendencies that we have seen repeatedly in the ponies of Equestria, although in different ways and for different reasons. And while Littlepip makes several morally dubious decisions, I would argue her most outright villainous moment is when she attached herself to Calamity’s plan on the overpass. Like Shining Armor, Calamity had suffered grievously under the actions of some members of a species, and viewed them all as monsters.

art by Promilie

Like Littlepip with Calamity, Twilight and Starlight were all too quick to fall in line with Shining Armor’s mentality. Twilight had at least suffered under the changeling invasion, and her dear brother had been the focus of their queen’s attack. Starlight, like Littlepip, had less excuse, only following in the example of her mentor and falling into the reigning mentality of the city. It made sense, then, and was really nice to see that, with the exception of Spike, Starlight was also the first to begin to question the way the situation was being treated. Twilight swiftly followed.

It is a common complaint, especially with the best episode concepts, that the episode felt rushed and/or should have been a two-episode story. That is to be expected, as you cannot fully embrace all the potential of a really great premise in just 22 minutes. The closest they have come with this was in “Crusaders of the Lost Mark”, and that achieved a lot of compacting through the format of a musical. This episode tries to compact the resolution the same way, through Spike’s song. It works, but requires a lot more suspension of disbelief than normal. In real life, most people don’t put aside either prejudice or reasonable fears that easily, and certainly not en masse. Problems of intolerance take a lot of time and work to correct.

Successfully pleading your case to the Princess of Friendship certainly helps though. This was possibly Twilight’s best moment as a princess, standing beside Spike and using her position to advance friendship, even with loved ones including her own brother staring daggers.

Personally, I like to imagine what this story could have been if the story had been given two episodes. The beginning did give a lot of exposition that people who missed (or didn’t obsessively remember) past episodes needed, and the ending could have really benefited from a growing-acceptance-and-friendship montage. But, being me, I would have also enjoyed seeing the story get to delve into the darker tones that are hinted at or glossed over. It’s is one thing to see guards running around crazily as Starlight askes, “…but is all this really necessary?” It would be much more impactful to see that downward spiral play out.

It also would have given space for Starlight Glimmer to have a secondary but significant role. It was enjoyable to see Starlight again. Her absence last week was conspicuous. But while she was fun to watch, I feel she could have been better utilized. Starlight would have made a good point of contrast to all the ponies who had suffered from the changeling attack. Especially considering her friendship with Trixie, she should have been the first to find Spike’s assertions persuasive.

Perhaps, if time had allowed, instead of confronting everyone immediately, he could have gone to Starlight, persuaded her, and then she facilitated getting Thorax into the castle and the meeting? Maybe even just a “everypony… Spike’s back, and I think you really need to listen” would have really been wonderful.

Thorax’s suggestion at the end of possibly taking friendship back to the other changelings seemed to come out-of-the-blue considering he was initially just looking for his own friendship and on the verge of starvation. But the idea is quite powerful (although I find myself questioning whether it would biologically work). The idea definitely lays seeds for possible future stories, much like “Gauntlet of Fire” did. I really hope we get to see the potential play out.

(Of course, if this was a chapter in the story of the Equestrian wasteland, you know that Thorax would reappear many episodes later, now leading about a quarter of the changelings as a harried and ragtag force of Freedom Friendship Fighters retreating from the forces of Queen Chrysalis and in need of allies. Cuz that’s how Fallout: Equestria rolls.)

Tidbits:

Ha, ha. Okay, yeah, Spike’s questioning a rock. Because this is a Spike episode, and so he has to be made to look ridiculous…

…holy crap! Changelings can disguise themselves as rocks! Spike called it!

Changelings can change into non-living objects? Realistically enough that Spike could lift Thorax to peek beneath him without realizing something was off? That's... terrifying. (Also, predicting a flood of fanfics shipping Boulder with changelings to follow.)

I felt Thorax dropped the F-bomb (“friend”, of course) awfully fast. In an otherwise nuanced episode, it had the subtlety of an orbital title drop.

Kudos to the new writers! Also... Tumbleweed??

Nice continuity to see the old “sunshine and ladybugs” rhyme used as an identity test. That's what it unintentionally functioned as in “A Canterlot Wedding” after all.

Starlight was as pointedly observant as ever. She got the best lines in the opening. “Because you’re you.” and “I think it will be pretty easy to figure out who she is.”

Spike has a Rarity plushie!

We got a lot of great information about changelings. We saw baby (larval) changelings, learned that their transformation abilities vastly exceed what we expected, that they have individual free will and that they can talk. Thorax’s voice really threw me. Not the voice I would have expected for a changeling. It’s growing on me with repeated viewings though.

Do changelings have a special mimicry precognition? I know Thorax’s ability to mimic Spike’s actions in perfect sync was a basic comedy routine, but it makes me wonder.

Twilight is best nerd princess.

It is really noticeable and disappointing when they recycle animation during a song. This is the second time they have done so this season, the other being during “Spice Up Your Life”.

Spike’s mad impromptu naming skills continue. Sandy Rockbeach approves. (Good thing Twilight was alone. Starlight Glimmer wouldn’t fall for it!)

Being a friend of Spike the Brave and Glorious gets you all the mares.

The sound Thorax made at Spikes betrayal was made of heartbreaking.

I was reminded strongly of this:

“What’s with you and falling off cliffs today?”