At last we get to see the last of the (known to be alive) parents of the Mane 6. And let me tell you the episode with Rainbow’s parents was a fun one.

From the start we get fingerling Scootaloo… which I imagine was very hard on the ears of anyone who was listening on headphones or turned up the volume on the TV. Wouldn’t fault anyone for turning it down, especially the moment Scootaloo sees Rainbow Dash’s mom.

But on to initial things about her parents. First of course some mention of that one pony we thought was Rainbow Dash’s dad for the longest time due to that flashback from Games Ponies Play. But I suppose they changed it to mentor at least in the card game? Kinda strange, though Bow seems to have a similar design with some noticeable differences. I’m sure that flashback is just going to confuse people from now on but it’s alright. As for Dash’s mom definitely a pretty cute design that you could definitely see a resemblance. I also think she’s one of the few mares in the show with a short tail. Usually the stallions have the short tails as to help further differentiate them beyond the different snout shape.

But another thing about this episode that’s great to see is just through pictures we see Scootaloo see a gallery of we get a good look at how Rainbow’s childhood/teenage years was for her and that’s always good to get some more character history. (Oh also the heavily sound effect door was a really good gag.

Though even early on you can see how kinda… creepy Dash’s parents are about their daughter. They keep many things, even things that aren’t generally the stuff parents would keep even if they really loved their child. From diapers to apples to broken vases which would come off as more so a bad memory we can assume for Dash. And it’s pretty important to note this because while her parents are still likable just from their sheer positive energy you can kinda easily see why even Rainbow who while we’ve certainly seen her try to grab the attention in the past why even she has a point where she’d draw the line. Her own parents are on the brink of being one of those crazy insane fans. And that’s an odd situation indeed. It’s incredibly important to take note because of a certain scene later on in the episode.

A small note I must make. This episode had a lot of wings in the place of hand gestures. Like it’s been there before but not exactly this common in one episode. Everything from wing shakes, plugging ears, facepalms, and even later being used to count (Which was fan-edited pretty soon after to give the middle wing if you know what  that means)

Dash’s parents when in the crowd are like those Soccor Moms/Dads that no matter what whether their kid is doing good or bad at their sport they’re cheering like they’re doing absolutely everything on the field. Which can be incredibly annoying to other people in the stands who are more mild-mannered even if they have kids of their own playing. Not to mention that could also put a little too much pressure on the kid and/or at least embarrass them. Cause being known as the kid with the annoying parents in the stands can’t be any fun.

But as fun and humorous  to see how it gets for Dash’s parents to do what they did. The locker room scene is no doubt the most important scene in the episode. Make no mistake, Rainbow Dash’s words certainly were kinda cruel. But it’s absolutely what needed to be done, because again Dash’s parents have habits that are way too creepy and gets in the way that it’s entirely believable that even someone like Dash who’s known to have a bit of a Ego might find is too much. Even if you don’t particularly like Rainbow Dash as a character, you can now kinda understand why she ended up like she was. Her parents raised her as if she can do no wrong, quite frankly it’s a miracle at all that Rainbow has any sort of sense of modesty. I still liked Dash’s parents but I was totally on Dash’s side in that scene, even though it certainly didn’t make for an easy ending as that yelling nearly breaks all of Scoots’ respect for Rainbow Dash and regardless how crazy they are it’s still sad to see them run off crying.

Secondary in importance though is showing that Rainbow actually earned her skills over time in showing she was once one of the worst in her class but earned her way to the top (On a side note, in a bit of both sadness and humor you see Derpy at the top at first but she gets lower as her eyes get more derped. Geez). Also Scootaloo saying she wished she had parents like Rainbow’s is just going to have people wanting to know where Scoots’ parents are. There is a decent fandom contingent that says she’s an orphan, but there was also something Lauren Faust has said is that Scoots’ parents have demanding jobs and don’t have a lot of time to spend with her. And one of the staff members actually replied and suggested they may follow-up on that whenever they get the chance to cover that. Something to possibly keep an eye on in the future.

But yeah, Parental Glidance I think is one of the best Rainbow Dash episodes in a little while. Well ok, technically it’s more of a Scootaloo episode since it heavily involves her and so far all Scootaloo episodes have been really good. But even in that case it doesn’t disappoint there. We get a good look at Rainbow’s history, some fun if a bit on the insane side pair of parents, and just an overall fun episode overall.. Definitely will be one of my favorites this season.

Next up is Hard To Say Anything. Which… will be kinda interesting cause there’s certainly a few things I must admit is odd. But that’s for next week. Seeya!