Well, this is it. After some weeks of anticipation and controversy, the season 3 finale of My Little Pony is here. Let’s talk a little bit about the history first. The controversy comes in the form of Twilight becoming an Alicorn Princess. Why is that controversial? I’m still figuring it out. Fans wanted her to stay as a Unicorn, but sometimes change is good. It allows for more interesting stories to take place. I will say that it needed more episodes building up to it. The whole thing with her becoming a Princess almost feels out of left field. It was bound to happen of course, it had been hinted at, but it just feels sudden. That aside, this episode is less of an episode and more of a tribute to the show as a whole. It might have been a little too song heavy, but it still succeeds in being the grandest one yet.

Here’s the official episode description from The Hub:

“My Little Pony Friendship is Magic” follows the studious young unicorn Twilight Sparkle and her five pony friends as they teach one another about the most powerful magic of all, the magic of friendship!  In the special coronation episode “Magical Mystery Cure,” Twilight Sparkle accidentally casts a spell that switches the Cutie Marks and destinies of all her friends, and the only way she can reverse the spell is by writing her own magic. Little does she know that by achieving this great accomplishment, she will fulfill her destiny and emerge a princess.

Twilight Sparkle opens up this episode with a very nice song, but soon runs into Rarity. The problem? She’s attempting to control the weather clouds. But why? For some odd reason she has Rainbow Dash’s Cutie Mark. Soon Twilight finds out that each of her friends has had their Cutie Marks switched. It all comes down to the Unicorn in reuniting her friends and showing them who they really are. In doing so she herself fulfills her own destiny and becomes…Princess Twilight Sparkle. It’s going to be quite interesting to see what stories they do from here. Honestly though, I think this could have been saved for the show’s finale. Not that I don’t want to see episodes with Princess Twilight, but it really could have worked out as a tribute ending with her fulfilling her destiny. Now, the concept of the Ponies switching identities is something I’m surprised hasn’t been before, it’s genius. We get to see each Ponies’ strengths and weaknesses. Applejack is a great farmer but can’t make clothes for beans. Fluttershy is a great listener, but trying to get everyone to laugh? It’s great to see them trying each other’s element and failing miserably.

I think personally Twilight gave up too easily in the beginning. She’s been through so much with her friends throughout these past seasons, so to see her give up like that was just sad. She didn’t even go to Princess Celestia for assistance. Besides that, the only real problem (and this is just what I think) is that the episode doesn’t rely on its interesting story. The scenes with the switched Ponies are crowded with the songs playing. They make the whole thing go way too fast. They’re great songs of course, but again it would have been better for the show’s finale. Still, the music is top notch. It’s amazing how much heart is put into the lyrics for this series. Now for the moment we’ve all been waiting for…the coronation. The scene with the Elements of Harmony blasting Twilight was amazingly done. The wings on her look admittedly awkward, it’ll take some time to get used to. When I first saw the episode I didn’t think too much of it, but now that I’m thinking…the whole thing with her becoming a princess might just be slightly rushed. She obviously isn’t ready for such grand duties, I think it would have been better for her to ‘train’ as an Alicorn in Season 4 and become a princess in that finale. Here it’s almost as if she’s forced to become royalty. Still, the ceremony was appropriately grand. Her dialogue was just great. Her awkwardness with becoming a Princess is just so in-character, I’m looking forward to seeing what her responsibilities will be like in Season 4.

Overall, Magical Mystery Cure is a very grand episode. In many senses it’s more of a tribute than an actual episode, which could be a good or bad thing. Personally the over abundance of wonderful songs kinda hurt what could have been a great story. (Well at least said songs were fun to listen to.) Twilight’s coronation was awesome. The actual event, her dress, it had everything. The very last line of the episode, spoken by Twilight herself, “Yes! Everything’s going to be just fine!” was funny. It’ll fly over younger viewers, but to the older viewers like myself, it’s an in-joke since almost everyone had been hating the idea of Alicorn Twi. Well, it’s happened. Whether or not Hasbro did it with good intentions for the show itself is a question for another day, but I’ll be looking forward to the stories to come out of it. Friendship is Magic is just getting started.

4.5/5

My name is Daniel (@Destroyer_199), the main guy for comic reviews here at Unleash the Fanboy. I was born in 1995 in the Big Apple, spent my formative years in Staten Island, and currently reside in the awesome state that is New Jersey.