We’ve known about the existence of this episode for a long while now. We first heard it from the staff during a con prior to Season 5. Unfortunately the way they mentioned it vaguely  (Something like “Fluttershy has a Brother, and you’ll see him soon!”) made us all think it was going to be a Season 5 episode and people were left wondering where was Fluttershy’s brother until it was finally clarified either late or after Season 5 that it was actually Season 6. Didn’t exactly help when everybody was sure Brotherhooves Social was the episode until we got the synopsis for that one when it turned out to be a Big Mac and Applebloom episode. But nevertheless that time has finally come.

So did the introduction of Fluttershy’s brother hit it off? …Well given how the Genie Twi episode response went, the answer could be a little obvious but first I want to do a nice talk on the Mane 6 siblings in general.

First and foremost is of course Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle for Applejack and Rarity respectfully. Obviously the two siblings who have had the most screentime out of any of the Mane 6 siblings due to being part of the sub-main cast as 2/3rds of the Main Cast. And over the years have become enjoyable child characters in their own right. Sweetie Belle especially for me. If the CMC were to have their own all grown-up Spin-Off show where they take the Main 6’s place as the main characters Sweetie would be my favorite in that show for sure just for how often Sweetie often gets the funniest and best lines in CMC related episodes. Sweetie would probably also be my favorite sibling of the Mane 6 character in general. And while Apple Bloom is probably my least favorite of the CMC, she’s a respectable Sibling character in her own right that have her own moments to shine. Also for Applejack is of course Big Mac who’s been q quiet but fun Male character for a majority of the show who even got sometime in the limelight in Brotherhooves Social..

Then there’s Pinkie’s sisters. It’s a little odd how that we first see two of them in a Season 1 episode and then a 3rd one comes a little bit out of nowhere in Season 4 of which tends to appear quite a bit since then before we ever get an elaboration on what the two sisters we’ve known about since Season 1 are like. But anyway, Marble Pie is pretty much a godsend for those who loved how meek Fluttershy was in the first season and may miss her cute awkward moments from back then after she’s developed so much (More on that later in this thoughts). Limestone gets more of a mixed response from how demanding we saw her, though I think now people certainly wouldn’t consider her the worst Mane 6 sibling to get to know (Again more on that a little later). And Maud Pie has endeared herself to the fandom with her dry humor despite being a rather sudden addition when we didn’t see her in the Cutie Mark Chronicles Flashback (Though again there’s always the excuse that she was just a little late to Pinke’s first party and the picture we see in Pinkie Pride which was our first hint of Maud’s existence was taken a little ways after the events of the flashback)

And then there’s Shining Armor.who’s probably the one sibling that has the most mixed responses out of any and completely understandable cause when he was introduced in the show there was no hints whatsoever to his existence and before we even saw Canterlot Wedding he has all the warning signs of a Mary Sue/Gary Stu character. He’s related to a main character very much involved in said main character’s mostly unknown past, in a very important role of Equestria, and is in love/about to marry a different character that’s also important in Equestria (Who also gets the Mary Sue complaints,) at least he wasn’t trying to marry an established character. Imagine the outrage if it was Luna he was marrying. We’d swear this is completely Hasbro making someone’s fanfic a reality. But despite all that, I think there’s room to say that it really could of gone a lot worse and I’d say there’s certainly some likability to him. Shining Armor does have his fans, I’ve seen it. Maybe not the most vocal about him since I think even they understand he’s far from being anywhere near one of the popular characters. But I certainly think there’s some degree of appeal to him, I think he’s also at least slightly risen up with what he showed in Season 5 and 6 with some funny moments and especially how he’s dealing with being a Father now. Perhaps the bigger problem in general with Shining Armor is that despite the awkward introduction there’s plenty of room to show him as a fun character to watch is that from any episode he appears in after Canterlot Wedding until The One Where Pinkie Knows he doesn’t really do a lot and is often put on a word status because he keeps being defeated by the main bad guy quickly (Sombra blocking his horn and Tirek stealing his magic) and doesn’t show much more character then he did in his debut so how he is normally had to be shown in the Comics (Which aren’t canon enough to matter) and fan interpretation. But perhaps the positive things is we see very much how happy he makes Twilight to see him again, a happy Twilight is always a good thing. And even if you’re not the biggest fan of Shining you can at least sort of understand that we don’t know everything Twilight and Shining has done in the past that gives them the very sweet bond they have.

Rainbow Dash is the only one of the Mane 6 now that still has a chance of being an only child. Unless you really want to stretch it with a little bit of adoption with Scootaloo. But I’m mainly talking about related with Blood. Rainbow though also has the most mystery about her family now since we’ve only possibly seen her father, but only in a few cameos. So for all we know she could still have a brother or sister of some kind too. But it’d probably be nice to have at least one main character remain sibling-less.

But I suppose it’s finally time to get into the brink of things with Fluttershy’s brother. And it’s rather unfortunate to say that he’s probably one of the least likable characters in the show. And I don’t even mean a “Love to Hate” character like Lightning Dust and Pre-Magic Duel Trixie. He is legitimately a character that many would like to punch in the face during the majority of this episode. Fear of failure be damned, within just the first two or 3 minutes he’s already pushing it and we still have to deal with his annoying self for about 2/3rd’s of the episode. Literally the only entertaining parts of the first 2/3rds involving him for me is everytime Rainbow reacts to Zephyr’s flirtations. Even the touching final 5 minutes is hard to take to heart because I don’t feel any sort of sympathy from Zephyr. From what we’re shown he’s manipulative of his family, incredibly cocky with those he has a crush on (And not even in the amusing Johnny Bravo kind), completely lazy making those smaller then him do the work for him like little animals and Spike, and the implication he’s been like that for years. This episode from the start was going to be judged based on how Fluttershy’s brother was portrayed, whatever you think of Zephyr will usually be one of the biggest indicators of how much you liked the episode. If you even somewhat liked him or at the very least tolerated him you probably enjoyed the episode. But as for others who have a hard time watching a character like him, even with the positives of the episode makes it an episode that annoys you more then anything. About 15 minutes of Zephyr being of the most obnoxious characters this show has produced with the rest being a somewhat ham-fisted attempt at making up for all that by trying to get us to sympathize with him but it’s just too little, too late at that point.

And I do think Zephyr could have been portrayed better without making him seem like such a douchebag. There should of been more hints of his fear of failure, and his flaws could of been toned down enough where we get he has annoyances about him but not the point that we feel like jumping in and strangling him. It also has to be incredibly annoying to those who are in a similar situation to Zephyr and they’re far from being a douche like Zephyr is. There’s many out there that still live with their parents, have a fear of not succeeding if they ever did move out on their own, and have something that makes getting a job or even schooling difficult. I’m sure a lot of those people were hoping for a character to relate to potentially with this episode. But no, Zephyr is not a character many people would relate to just based on his personality. It almost feels like an insult to those who can’t their way out due to many things that make things complicated especially these days with a competitive job market and making money isn’t exactly easy. The episode itself even shows Zephyr getting hired three times rather easier then it actually would be. No happy ending is going to completely erase what we had to deal with for a majority of the episode.

The only things that somewhat save the episode from being intolerable is seeing how tough Fluttershy is. It’s a testament to how much she’s changed since her meek days in Season 1 and 2. And there is an enjoyment in seeing even the Element of Kindness have a hard time dealing with Zephyr. Showing just how annoying he is when even one of the historically kinder characters can’t stand his antics. There’s also the humor, as I mentioned Rainbow’s reaction to everything Zephyr does is one of the saving graces of having to watch the first 15 minutes of the episode and things like “Peeved” being a swear word in Equestria. Fluttershy’s parents also have really neat designs, and funny to note that they seem to shyer then Fluttershy is herself. You do have to keep in mind of course that even with how meek in Season 1, she still managed to move out on her own just fine. Even if I imagine it’s not too hard to believe Rainbow being a good friend of her’s even before the events of the series helped her out way back when.

But I don’t know, I just can’t feel like I can like this episode too much. Zephyr is just a little too much to watch and not even a relatively nice song and touching ending can completely save it for me cause of how much I was annoyed with the main thing this episode wants to show. The episode itself was more entertaining then last week’s and I think the positives were enough to put it above No Second Prances for me. But that’s 3 out of 11 episodes I’m not sure I feel like I enjoyed that much. I’m sorry if you read this and really liked this one as I understand the huge showing for Fluttershy will sure make this at least somewhat popular I’m sure. But Zephyr alone is such a pain to watch that it really drags it down for me.

This saturday’s episode turns out to be the final episode before the mid-season break meaning it breaks off at 12 instead of 13 awkwardly. Kinda wondering if there’s a special reason for that. Like maybe we have a mid-season two-parter or even a 3 or 4 part finale. But either way even if it’s not exactly halfway I’ll still give how I feel about Season 6 so far in the same response in the next episode thoughts. Seeya then!