Welcome to a new edition of Alicorn Reviews and we have a bit of an odd pairing in this Rainbow episode. In a surprise twist the Cyan mare gets paired up with Granny Smith and the other Apple Family elder mares. While at the Wonder bolt academy, as Rainbow was in the locker room she over hears the other members rave about a ride. It was a roller coaster in Las Pegasus called the Great Blue Yonder that many have said is the fastest ride in Equestria. Naturally, Rainbow gets really excited and even tells every pony she met about it. However, when she tells Applejack about the ride, AJ then asks Rainbow to chaperon Granny Smith who is also going to Las Pegasus. It gets worse as she also must take Goldie Delicious, Apple Rose and Applesauce along with on the trip. Rainbow in bit of rush trades with AJ to teach her classes while she's away chaperoning the elderly mares. Will this be a pleasant trip for the group or will the Apple Grannies actually go wild? As mentioned, this is really a rare pairing as normally as it's either Pinkie or Applejack who gets involved with Granny Smith. Yet, she has managed in some form to become their chaperon for a trip with the Gold Horseshoe Gals. It's a yearly trip that the Elderly Apple mares take to Las Pegasus but unfortunately Rainbow wind up being the chaperon. Unlike the last episode with Fluttershy, Rainbow had me looking forward to the reactions she would have towards the old mares. I love the way Dash underestimated their willing to have fun and would actually stay too close to Applejack's advice. My favorite one was when she saw Applesauce flirt with Jackpot which caused the Cyan mare to become disgusted. Rainbow's reason to go to Las Pegasus wasn't really selfish; I mean she did ask Applejack to teach her classes as a trade. The episode taught Rainbow another lesson on friendship when she wasn't looking for one. I find that kind of refreshing, and it helped the speedster understand the Gold Horseshoe Gals better than before. The writers did Rainbow in way where she still learned something and they didn't need to recycle a previous plot. Now, we move on to the Gold Horseshoe Gals, and it's the best I have seen of Granny Smith and Applesauce. The best moment was from Applesauce and the way she flirted with the bell hop is pure gold. The way she called him such a strong stallion and even seductively gave him one bit (a gold coin). It's the manner of being hesitate before taking the coin is what sold me. I was actually wondering if she was going to bounce with giving him a kiss. Even Granny Smith stated "sure your name is not Applesaucy" about her attitude. Oh, I wish I was making that up... Yes, that actually came out of Granny's mouth in a kids show, let that sink in will you. It didn't stop there as during the dance scene, Jackpot and Big Bucks came over to the GHG. Granny went as far as to loosen the bun on top of her mane as it fell in a seductive way with the slowdown. Damn DHX, I thought the one piece swimsuit that Twilight and Pinkie wore in Forgotten Friendship were too much for this show. Yet, they have taken it even further with this episode and who would want to see old people get it on?! Another thing I love about this filler is how it referenced an old show called the Golden Girls. Think about it Granny is Sophia, Applesauce is Blanch, Goldie is Dorothy and Apple Rose is Rose. The writers diffidently come from my generation and I'll be surprised if no one didn't catch that reference. I also have some miscellaneous stuff to bring up that appeared in this episode as it brought many questions to me. For once we get introduce to Trixie's father Jackpot, a magician for those casinos in the city. We can see where she gets the talent from; however, Trixie knows how to perform her acts better. In fact, so much better that it worked when she tricks the changelings in the season six finale. I also loved how they panicked and in their disappearing act showed those two running after the smoke appeared. Fortunately, the once "adversary" to Twilight use to do that in the earlier seasons until recently she has nailed the trick. Perhaps Jackpot and his partner could take a few 101 lessons in illusion magic from his daughter. On another side note, there's a Rick and Morty reference during the scene where Rainbow sees the long line to the ride. It was a thin male pony with a light blue mane and a light grey coat similar to how Rick is seen in the show. Once in a while DHX likes to throw these in as more like a vague cameo at random. It diffidently creates an interesting topic to talk about among the Brony community. So the question is where is Morty? I would like to bring up the scene where Rainbow was looking for GHG. From observing the environment, some arcade games actually have CRT screens and I'm confused as to what era of technology Equestria is at in their world. We know it's not as advance as the Human World technology (humans don't even use CRT TVs for anything anymore). It wouldn't be hard for these ponies to have simple machines like rolling balls into holes or whack a mole type games. I can tell these "screens" are actually projection technology, and Equestria doesn't have CRT TVs in any form. In the background there's a dance revolution machine that shows the arrow icons moving up. Upon a closer look, the icons are not moving up but the screen running on a timid loop for the lights. I find that a little creative to use a projection screen for the lack of a CRT to run a video game. Another game had a mare play on some arcade joy stick while pressing buttons. Unfortunately, it's not revealed except for the logo of a generic space ship and lights flashing across her face. I'm going to assume it's using the same tech as the dance revolution game. They are probably advanced enough to have some primitive motherboard using a projector to run them. Of course, this has nothing to do with the plot but I find it amusing they have some form of video games. Of course, I didn't forget the elephant in the room, and that's the appearance of the supposed male Alicorn. We all know that there hasn't been a male Alicorn ever presented in the lore of Gen 4 as of yet. The writers never explained whether Celestria's and Luna's mother was an Alicorn. There's a possibility that both sisters went through the same thing Twilight had achieved to get that status. It's clear this was an obvious mistake by the drawers who haven't made one since Season 2. I believe that the drawers got a little confused as to what that had to draw. It was an episode that took place in Las Pegasus, a city in the clouds so we can see where they made the mistake. I can tell the drawers had a Pegasus pony subconsciously on their minds when drawing this unicorn. It happens to the best of us no matter how good or talented we are in any industry. I can over look this since it's not often DHX makes these mistakes. I found this the best episode so far of Season 8 which had many fun moments and great references. Rainbow being paired up with Granny and the GHG was a little odd considering they rarely interacted with each other alone. Anytime Rainbow was with Granny, it's either with Applejack or the other Mane Six that were also next to them. However, this leads to a pleasant pairing that I didn't think would work (it's not the first time I got proving wrong). The shenanigans the GHG would do are truly comedy gold and so much that it drove the Cyan mare insane. Applejack's message about not letting them get excited only added to the chaos of her chaperon task. The parts where they tried acting flirty are the best of the Apple Family elderly so far. Even some of the miscellaneous stuff shown like Jackpot, the Rick pony cameo and Equestria's video games made it even more interesting. I always wondered where Equestria's technology was at as we know that it's nowhere near the advancement of its parallel world. That's still a fun concept for the writers to explore and the vagueness of some of these arcade games only made me guess even more. Of course, we have the drawing mistake of the male "Alicorn" pony present in the background. I will overlook this flaw since DHX rarely makes these kinds of issues in the animation and detail. Overall, this is the best filler we have gotten since last season and a trend that should continue.
Rating: 8.5/10 Great
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