This review will contain spoilers for those who have not seen the latest episode.
The premise of this episode is that a swarm of vampire fruit bats threatens to devour the entire Apple family orchard. But, Applejack's attempts to get rid of the creatures is disrupted by Fluttershy, who wishes to care for them.
As you can probably tell from the brief premise I gave, the main focus of this episode is the conflicting ideals of both Applejack and Fluttershy. On a personal note, there are several reasons why I like this episode's story. Firstly, it's partly an Applejack-centred story, and I still maintain that she's perhaps the most under-developed character from among the main six, so any episode where she'd given focus is a positive thing for me. In addition to this, while episodes of her being in conflict with one of the other main ponies has been done before, it's never been done with Fluttershy. As I've said in past reviews, I like it when the show mixes up the dynamics of who interacts with who, and this episode gives us a good one to look at.
And speaking of which, the conflict between them is a very believable one that fits in perfectly with their established character traits. Right since the start of the show, Applejack's dedication to her family's orchards, and Fluttershy's need to care for animals, have been at the forefront of virtually every story in which these two have been focused on. In fact, there have been times when this particular dispute between them has been touched on a few times before, like in "Winter Wrap-Up" or last season in "Keep Calm and Flutter On". In every situation, Applejack has viewed the creatures around Ponyville as a nuisance, so I suppose it was inevitable that this sort of thing would eventually come to a head between them.
In addition, I absolutely love that the conflict isn't a one-sided one. In most kid's shows, the central conflict of a given episode will usually be pretty easy to figure out, as in we the audience can tell right away who's in the right. Even in other MLP episodes we're aware of who's supposed to come out on top. That's not the case here as you can truly see both sides of the dilemma. We can understand Applejack's plight as it is, at the end of the day, her family's livelihood that's at risk from these creatures, so she needs to do what she can to get rid of them. But, on the other hand, we can also sympathise with Fluttershy, as we know that these aren't malicious creatures, but just animals who do what comes naturally to them. We may consider them vermin like many real-life animals, but we can't deny that they have a right to do what they do, if only because Fluttershy, a character the audience likes, cares for them so much.
The bit twist regarding Fluttershy's transformation into a vampire was an interesting one, as I genuinely didn't see it coming from the basic set-up of the episode. However, once it started, I actually enjoyed a lot of both the group's attempts to discover the truth and their plan on how to get her back to normal. However, this did mean that the latter half of the episode was devoted mostly to action, rather than the more character-centric beats of the first half, and to me that was a bit of a disappointment as that was where the episode's real strength lay. The cliff-hanger regarding Fluttershy's possible retaining of her vampire form was intriguing, though I wonder if it'll be something they actually follow up on.
If I had one major complaint about this episode, it would be the group's plan to basically brainwash the vampire bats en masse in order to fix the problem of them eating the orchard. I actually found it rather morally abhorrent that they'd even consider it, using magic to completely re-write how these creatures are supposed to behave. It's especially hypocritical when you consider that the group themselves actually had it done to them once against their will, by Discord in season two. Back then he turned them into something they were never meant to be, and here they are doing the same thing without a moment's hesitation. It did make it rather difficult for me to side with Applejack's side of things when she was willing to consider such an act.
When it comes to the humour, this episode's funny moments more often than not stem from the group's attempts to not only deal with the bats, but to also deal with Fluttershy while she changes. Pinkie Pie's antics are as funny as always, and Rarity's brief moments were pretty funny as well this week. But the biggest laugh for me came near the end when Pinkie and Fluttershy were discussing what happened to her. It reminded me of another back-and-forth between Rainbow and Twilight earlier in the season. I said at the time that, although funny, it might have been benefitted from being shorter, and this exchange between Fluttershy and Pinkie is exactly the kind of length I was talking about.
Onto songs now and this week we have one mostly featuring Applejack as the lead, which is good. Although she's had very few singing parts in the past, I have gone on record as saying that she has a very nice singing voice, albeit perhaps not as nice as some of the others. In addition, songs that feature all or most of the rest of the cast have always sounded great, and this one is no exception. However, I will say that, when it comes to songs sung by the protagonists, this one is a tad more intimidating than the usual fare, given it's subject matter of trying to do away with creatures they didn't like. I was actually put in mind of the "Mob Song" from Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" while I was listening to it, if only because of it's central point of a character trying to work up others on how bad these creatures are supposed to be.
The animation is, as always this season, very impressive. The use of shadows and darker colours were especially great to watch, both during the song sequence and during the latter half of the episode. The only real issue, from a design perspective anyway, that I had this week was with Fluttershy's altered form. I understand that she's meant to look menacing or intimidating here, but I'm sorry to say that I don't think it worked. No amount of darker colours or pointed teeth is going to make that mare look anything other than adorable to me.
As for the moral-of-the-week, this episode's lessons is that just because others are your friends doesn't mean you should do as they ask if what they're asking is something you're uncomfortable with. This, as you might expect, is a lesson on peer pressure, which is an important thing for young people to come to terms with. I myself have had many moments when people around me have tried to convince me what the right thing is when I had a hard time accepting it myself. Peer pressure and how to deal with it are especially difficult lessons for children to learn and I salute this episode for trying to tackle it.
So, how did the episode fare overall? Honestly, I felt it was an improvement over last week's episode. While "Power Ponies" might have the edge over this one in terms of sheer amusem*nt or entertainment value, I felt that this one wins out because of all the positives I listed. There were some great character dynamics, a memorable and well-sung song, an important moral lesson for kids and a two-sided argument that I had a hard time choosing between, which is a rarity for kid's shows. While I may have had an issue with the story or with certain actions taken by the characters, the positives more than made up for it. I highly recommend this one.
