Alright Castle-Mania.

The first normal episode (Non two-parter, Non Special Occasion like MMC) since Games Ponies Play.

And from first impressions. It was ultimately good, but not really too great. A few things were too predictable. From the eyes moving from the pictures, there being no real Shadow Pony only to show there might actually be one at the end (I wonder if it teasing something to a future episode though, that would be cool). Just a few too many Cartoon cliches that I can remember even from the old Scooby-Doo cartoons.

The reasons that a few of the Mane 6 were even there kinda felt like basic excuses given that it really boils down to what we knew about them back in Season 1. Rainbow Dash and Applejack like to compete with each other, so have them there to see who’s the braver pony. Rarity likes fabric, so have her go to try to get some ancient art from the castle that’s left and restore it for use (To be fair to Rarity fans that’s kinda cool that she’s trying to restore something). And Pinkie likes Parties, so let’s have her go assuming the Mane 6 went there for a party.

Honestly Twilight and Fluttershy are the only ones you can really say they were there for more then one reason. Twilight was told by Celestia to go there and she also wondered if the castle’s library had anything about the box the Tree of Harmony sprouted at the end of the previous two-parter. And ultimately at the end led to the replacement of the Friendship letters. The Mane 6 having a diary/journal instead of sending letters to Celestia. And as for Fluttershy, while not as big or important as Twilight’s. She still went both to help Rarity, and as it would turn out try to look for Angel who runs ahead.

On the plus side however, this episode does bring up a few cool things that sets up things for the rest of the season and even does something not a lot of normal episodes do. There’s more continuity overall with this establishing episode compared to Ticket Master and Lesson Zero (Though continuity is one of the few things it does better in Lesson Zero, I don’t know about anything else). The aforementioned replacement of the Friendship Letters is a good idea for such a purpose. And from preview screenshots and promos for future episodes that I’ve seen, this won’t be the last we see of the old castle being used. So we have another location for episodes to have in the future. Which is excellent, given that it is a rather iconic location, as even the episode itself refers to it’s where they got the Elements of Harmony. So it’s awesome we’re going to be seeing this place get more use. Some of the humor was really good, and the animation and some special cues with the voice acting were really top notch. The last time the Main 6 had a good role in the episode and wasn’t for a really special occasion though was Games Ponies Play, and let’s just say this performed a lot better then that one. The last episode that gave all the Main 6 a good role before in a less important episode before Games Ponies Play was all the way back to Season 2 with Hearth’s Warming Eve (Technially it’s kinda important with the history, but given nothing has come to really expand on what Hearth’s Warming Eve showed. Not yet). But the last real good episode to include all the Main 6 was all the way back in Season 1 with the finale of that season: Best Night Ever. While it’s a stretch to say this episode is as good as that one, it’s the previous episode to give each the Main 6 a good role and it being relatively a good episode. Those who miss these kind of episodes back in Season 1 may really appreciate this one as it’s very much in line with the Season 1 episodes that did give all the Main 6 something to do.

Overall, it’s not a better episode then the opener was that’s for sure. And not even the best season establisher (Lesson Zero keeps it’s seat there). But those who appreciated the charm of some of the classic Season 1 episodes that focused on not just one of the Main 6 during an episode might really like this episode. It does what it needs to do well enough: bring back an old location to become a recurring location. Brings a substantial replacement to the Friendship letters, and gives a good tone for a lot of the normal Season 4 episodes. Using continuity more then ever before, and not losing too much focus on what the task at hand (The box) that the opener gave us. As long as we get episodes like this or better for the most normal episodes of the series. Season 4 may relatively be healthy in terms of consistent quality most of the way through,

P.S. It was a bit difficult to decide what to do for the Castle-Mania response. So sorry if my update seemed a bit lacking of idea other then “Twilight tail hugs her friends just from remembering how things were more simpler at one point”