Whoa now! This Brony Breakdown is a few days late, as I had a massive computer accident (bottle water meet motherboard), coupled with my busted laptop, I have to find time to get my writing out at work. So the extra day or two should have given you enough time to watch “Flight to The Finish” a couple of times, and get your own opinions on it. We got ourselves another Cutie Mark Crusader episode and I foresee major cute going on. Lets jump right in and break down “Flight to The Finish”!

We open up on Cheeriliee, the school teacher for Ponyville, addressing her class. She soon introduces the head of the Equestria Games (equine themed Olympics), Miss Harshwhinny. She informs the class that she will be picking a group to attend the games as flag carriers for Ponyville, and the best part is IT’S A COMPETITION! Nothing builds self confidence in a little filly than ruthless competition against their friends! Roll the intro!

Once back, we get the rundown for the contest. The class will break up into teams and choreograph a flag carrying routine. Whoever scores the highest (in grace, style, and originality) will get to perform their routine at the Equestria Games! During Miss Harshwhinny’s instructions, Rainbow Dash blares in and interrupts her. Rainbow introduces herself as the coach for the competition. She regales the class with and old story of when SHE carried the Cloudsdale flag at the games. The amount of innuendo in her story was palpable. “I spread my wings…flag flapping in the breeze…I did tricks with that flag that no one has ever seen and hasn’t since.” Nothing too perverted there…but sometimes I wonder what the writers are doing.

Miss Harshwhinny soon puts a stop to Rainbow Dash’s celebrating and reminds her to stay professional and not get to emotional. Miss Harshwhinny is kind of a bitch, BUT WE MUST STAY PROFESSIONAL!

The entire time this is going on Rainbow Dash’s biggest fan, Scootaloo, is looking on in awe. We can see where this is going, can’t we? After class is over the Cutie Mark Crusaders (CMC from here on out) convene in the playground to discuss their plans. The competition calls for them to demonstrate what makes their town special. Only after standing back and actually looking at each other do they realize what makes Ponyville special. It is a place where all kinds of different ponies can live together. Earth ponies, Pegasus ponies and Unicorns. DIVERSITY UNIFIES! So it’s settled, they need to emphasis the diversity, and even though they are little fillies; they have hearts that are strong as horses. CUE THE SONG!

But before that, lets talk about the voice actresses. The CMC are voiced by Madeleine Peters (Scootaloo), Claire Corlett (Sweetie Bell), and Michelle Creber (Apple Bloom). Unlike male voice actors, young girls are typically hired into roles for characters their same age. Most of the time when a young male character is in the show, a female usually ends up voicing them. Best example outside of MLP (Spike is voiced by Cathy Weseluck) is The Boondocks. The two main characters Huey and Riley are voiced by Regina King. The idea is that an adult female can pull of a young male voice a lot longer than a boy can. We all know how much havoc puberty can wreck on a 12-15 year old male voice.

The voice actresses for the CMC are 17, 14, and 14 years old, and keep in mind that when they started on MLP:FiM they were all four years younger. Normally this doesn’t mean much for female voice actresses but in the case of the CMC it does. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell are both voiced by now 14 year old girls, and both characters have accents. It is now very apparent that both actresses have had their voices change over the course of the show. Most notable is Sweetie Bell. Gone are her cute little voice cracks and squeeks. Claire Corlett’s voice has finally settled, and this is presents a possible narrative route for the entire CMC.

Now that the characters sound like they’ve gone through puberty, it could be time the CMC do the same. Now, when I say “Go through puberty” I’m not expecting some Seventh Heaven level type story arc where one of the daughters “becomes a woman”. No I am talking about CUTIE MARKS! It has been three seasons of them furiously trying to get their Marks (the pony equivalent of puberty). I think it is time for the CMC to get to the next stage as characters just like Twilight did. Their voices sure have changed, and it is very apparent in the song, which is where I left off!

Hearts as Strong as Horses is the first song composed by Daniel Ingram for Season Four. You can really hear his style coming through on this one. The lyrics are cute and adorable and it really conveys the CMC’s motivation. Take a listen to the song here, and enjoy the awkward straight on animation that this season seems to be enjoying way to much!

As soon as the song is over, those two stuck up bitches show up. Yeah that’s right, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon come into frame to ruin the CMC’s day (am I really calling small, child equivalent, horses bitches? Yeah I am!). Their stuffy attitude comes across as really mean this time around (it gets worse even!) and their mocking of the CMC not having their cutie marks is just par for the course.

After the encounter with the Blue Bloods, Rainbow Dash joins the CMC for their first demo of their routine, while Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara watch on from the bushes. What the CMC show off is actually a pretty impressive display. It shocks Rainbow Dash and the bullies in the bushes! Mouths agape! Rainbow is about to bust over it but remembers her need to be “Professional”. Instead of gushing she restrains herself.  Feeling threatened the Blue Bloods have to resort to nefarious methods. They approach the CMC and focus their torment on Scootaloo. They praise the team for their routine but scoff and mock them for having a Pegasus that cannot fly. They point out that a filly Scootaloo’s age should be able to fly and her not flying will keep them from winning the competition. This obviously gets to Scoots and she demands that they rework their routine for the competition, much to the chagrin of Sweetie Bell and Apple Bloom. She is confident that she can get her undersized wings to lift her off by the next morning. So goes a new montage, Scoots forces her friends to work all through the night on a new routine while she tries to fly.

So comes the day of their final walk through and the new routine is nothing to write home about. Rainbow Dash isn’t pleased and neither are the CMC, so Scoots takes another night trying to fly without success. Next comes the day of departure and Scootaloo decides to bail on her friends. She doesn’t want to let them down, but ultimately they are fed up with her and make the decision to leave her in Ponyville.

On the train Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell break the bad news to Rainbow Dash, that they left Scootaloo in Ponyville. OH BOY! Does she give them a scolding! Reinforcing the whole friends don’t leave friends behind, and Friendship is Magic. They all ditch the train and hurry back to get Scootaloo. They catch her throwing out all her precious possessions. Her posters, memorabilia and even her SCOOTER!  When Rainbow and the girls show up they explain to Scootaloo that they’re her friends and she can be a great pony even if she can’t fly.

This is where the show pulls a great move. They don’t shy over the fact that Scootaloo is kind of handicapped. They talk about the tough situation she is in, they don’t just gloss over it.

They get her confidence back and head to the Crystal Empire for the competition, and wouldn’t you know it their first routine wins it all!

Final Thoughts

I really liked the message this episode conveyed. Be who you are and do not let anyone get you down. Though that’s pretty much all I enjoyed: the Blue Bloods were really mean, beyond just a couple of bullies in school and the story was kinda boring. I just want the Mane 6 to get that six keyed chest open! Daniel Ingram stole the episode with “Hearts as Strong as Horses”.

All in all, the episode was just OKAY.