Cartoon Reviews: My Little Pony Friendship is Magic Episode 58 – Sleepless in Ponyville

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The Story
Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle go camping with their big sisters and Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo tries to impress Rainbow with how tough she is, a feat made all the tougher by Rainbow’s scary campfire stories. Scootaloo tries to stay up at night to escape from her nightmares, but falls asleep anyway. In one of Scootaloo’s dreams, Princess Luna saves her from the headless horse. Luna tells Scootaloo that she needs to face her true fear.

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After running away from the campsite, and falling into a river, Scootaloo is saved by Rainbow Dash, who asks her what she was doing outside at night. Scootaloo confesses that she was afraid of the stories Rainbow was telling, but that she didn’t want to show it because she wanted Rainbow to be impressed and take her under her wing. Rainbow admits to having been afraid of those very same stories the first time she heard them. She decides to take Scootaloo under her wing, and basically be her big sister.

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The Review
This episode has been a long time coming. Out of all the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Scootaloo is the only one that hasn’t had an episode dedicated to her. There are many questions about her that are as of now unanswered, though we do get a few issues resolved.

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First of all, Scootaloo’s parents are still unrevealed. Fans have speculated that Scootaloo is an orphan, and to be honest this episode, and past episodes, have done nothing to dispel that rumor. In fact, some have made connections between most of the main character Pegasi not having any revealed family. Whether this is a coincidence, or deliberate, has yet to be revealed.

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However, we do get confirmation this episode, though we had assumed as much, that Scootaloo is in fact not related to Rainbow Dash. But, at the moment she gets the next best thing. Rainbow taking Scootaloo under her wing was a touching conclusion to the episode, and a development that has been a long time coming.

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Out of all the CMC, Scootaloo has been a favorite for many, and her getting her own episode helps showcase why exactly this is. Out of all three CMC she does have the most developed internal conflict, and seeing her obsession with being tough for Rainbow play out was a lot of fun to watch.

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Princess Luna’s surprise cameo in the episode helped push Sleepless in Ponyville (a misleading title if ever there was one, they weren’t even in Ponyville!) into my current number one spot for this season. After a second watch through I found that I enjoyed it quite a bit more than I had the first time around. There is a lot of substance in this episode, and I could easily see myself watching it more than twice.

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Overall, this is a must see episode for fans of the show. Even non-hardcore Scootaloo fans can agree that it’s about high time she had her episode. Fans of Luna get that extra bit of fanservice with her appearance. And fans of the show in general can appreciate the well written story with an important lesson.

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The Grade

5/5

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