Season 4 of My Little Pony is proving to be one of the most interesting yet. The stories are seemingly becoming more and more action/adventure based when compared to the slice of life lesson-filled episodes of Season 1 and 2. Season 3 to an extent, but with the fourth the show looks to be taking more of an adventure route. ‘Castle Mane-ia‘ wasn’t an award-winning episode, but was still fun. They are always fun. This one I was personally looking forward to for one reason: Daring Do. She’s one of my favorite characters, despite her lack of appearances. ‘Daring Don’t‘ is a fun adventure story with great action and enough Do to earn a better rating than ‘Castle Mane-ia.’

Here’s the official episode description from The Hub:

When the next “Daring Do” novel gets delayed, Rainbow Dash decides to go visit the books’ author, A.K. Yearling, to get some answers. But when she meets her, Rainbow Dash discovers a shocking secret about the author.

Daring Do had her beginning as a book character, a parody of Indiana Jones. She appeared in the episode ‘Read It and Weep‘ from Season 2. Ever since then she’s hasn’t really appeared, which is a shame. This episode does a clever job of bringing her into the the real world, it’s actually pretty surprising how they did it. (Now she can technically be in any episode!) Throughout the story she easily steals the show with her tough and cool personality. Sadly it just shows how much more fun she is to watch than Rainbow Dash, who was rather annoying with her constant whining. (I’m sure Dash fans will disagree.) But Daring Do does not disappoint in the slightest and has risen past being a pony parody of Indiana Jones, she’s now officially part of the show’s cast. I hope they will use her more often than not.

While this could technically be counted as a Rainbow Dash episode, the other ponies do get some shinning moments. The best scene is the teamwork inside Ahuizotl’s castle. For fans wanting to see more action of the ponies kicking things will love this episode. It’s definitely fun to see Applejack attacking some stallions and Twilight using her magic to outwit them. Speaking of Twilight, she has a very fantastic speech toward the end directed at Rainbow, one of the show’s finest. It’s another factor in this season showing why she’s earned the crown and wings. (Though I am curious what royal duties she has as princess, it doesn’t seem like anything has changed other than being a ‘backup’ for Celestia and Luna.)

I think one piece of dialogue that will stand out to internet people like myself is when Twilight says, “My mind has officially been blown!” in reference to the big plot twist regarding the author of the Daring Do books, A.K. Yearling. (Clever homage to the Harry Potter writer.) It shows that the writers involved are aware they have another audience besides the target one. In fact, this season seems to be tailored more for Bronies than the first three seasons. Not that that’s a bad thing of course! Also, the villain from ‘Read It and Weep,’ Ahuizotl, is the antagonist of the episode. He’s definitely solid, only if because of his unique Australian accent. Hopefully the show will use him again down the road.

Overall, David Polsky delivers a solid episode. Rainbow Dash might be a bit annoying at times, but the fantastic Daring Do made up for it. Seriously, she was awesome in every scene. There’s plenty of action throughout, which a lot of fans will be happy about. Twilight continues to show why she’s the leader and has some great lines. There is a moral to be taken out of this. It’s to not idolize your worldly heroes. It’s important to remember that they have weaknesses like yourself, a solid one for sure.

4/5

Daniel is a huge fan of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. His favorite is Fluttershy and you can follow him on Twitter: @Destroyer_199