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So, Twilight and Rainbow Dash. One thing I like seeing in an established show, is a character pairing that isn't common. In season 2, we got to see some Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Something like that. I feel I've said all this before. But yeah. We don't really get Twilight and Dash. Daring Don't doesn't really count, since everyone was there and it wasn't really about the two of them. But for the most part, this episode is. Another thing I like about this episode, is that it isn't what I will call a "character bottle" episode. In a show with a very large cast (mane6, 3 CMC, Spike, and a host of minor recurring characters, including Celestia), it never felt right to me to have only one of them have any kind of major role in the episode. It usually gets boring, especially if it's a character I'm not fond of. The great thing about this episode, is it features most of the main cast without feeling like it's forcing them upon us. Rainbow Dash needs help studying, and everyone's trying to come up ways to help. Except...Applejack. Yeah, still keeping her in the background are you.

First thing I noticed in the episode was that Twilight has improved pretty well in her flying capabilities. I like that. And in true My Little Pony fashion, it's subtle and not really relevant to the plot. I also notice that she may have other mental issues. It's one thing to talk to yourself. It's another to be like "I'm just gonna go up there and tell her she's being lazy". I don't know. Forced exposition, but that really annoyed me. She also cringed when she landed on the cloud. Is this the first time we've seen her on a cloud since she got wings? I think so. Is it the first time she's been on a cloud since she got wings? Probably not. It's odd that she's still not used to the fact that it's a solid surface for her. And...Rainbow Dash with the reference to Crystal Empire. Damn, this is a loaded cold opening. Something about this episode that really struck me is the non-verbal expressions. Here we have the first of the best ones. When Twilight says "I know just the pony to help you", Dash gives this eye-rolling look and points at her. It's awesome.

Actor allusion. When Twilight says "really important", she sounds like Timmy Turner. Anyway, right away we see that Dash is a trouble student, basically, and has trouble learning. Not really that surprising. It does bring up a question though. How did she pass her classes as a filly? Surely not all pegasi schooling involves physical activities. Did she not learn anything then? Anyway, more visual gags, like the highlighter and other cutaway wipes (I forget what those are called, forgive me. Or don't). Rainbow drawing Twilight with the highlighter pen. In a manner that resembles a foldout in a porn magazine. Maybe that's just me.

I give Dash some credit. Her antics are making it hard for even me to focus on Twilight. I don't really get why Owlicious and Spike are joining in, but it's damned hilarious. Spike's wide open mouth is...odd, really. I wondered why Twilight couldn't hear the hooting and the drumming, but then I figured that she's just enamored with teaching, and completely oblivious to anything else going on. No real surprise there. But she is using her magic very efficiently here. Which is weird. She uses it a lot when there isn't any danger present, but tends to forget she's all-powerful when there is some kind of danger. She croaks under pressure I guess.

Another great visual expression. Twilight's wide-open shocked look when Dash gives some incredibly wrong answers in her pop quiz. Here's where it does get weird. Dash isn't taking any of it seriously, then all of a sudden freaks out for what I can see is no real reason. She already knew her job in the Wonderbolts was on the line.

So Fluttershy steps in with a little over-the-top screaming. Not completely out of character, since she's trying to get their attention. Character development and all. More than once we've seen her try to get other ponies' attention, but due to her timid voice, everyone ignores her and moves on. Anyway, I'm with Dash here. There really is no way that she could learn anything by a play being barely ran by a bunch of pets that don't really resemble any characters, with no speech (because they're animals of course). If Fluttershy wanted to put on a play, she should have used the other ponies. And we know they would do well in the play, because they all seem to already know the Wonderbolts' history. Which makes me wonder if it's already required reading in schools, and Dash just lazily skipped it all. That's also weird. In most cartoons, you'd see the poor learning kid struggle, even after the smart kid tries to tutor him. And then they'd find something they're interested in, and focus on it and do well. But here, it seems like Dash doesn't even care enough to learn what she obviously cares about. Yeah, she changes her focus and realizes she needs to learn it. But if this was something that would have came up in school years ago, you'd expect her to get all excited about it, and only it. Even if she did poorly in school, she would get all over learning about the Wonderbolts.

And now it's Pinkie Pie's turn, and it's what I'm sure everybody is talking about. There's really only two things here I feel like mentioning. One, Pinkie wearing the clock is a reference to Flavor-Flav. Another "the kids won't get it" kind of inside joke. Two, Pinkie here sounds...off. I can't tell who's doing the rapping here, whether it's Andrea Libman or Shannon Chan-Kent. We saw Claire Corlett "sing" the 99 Buckets of Oats song, before she became the official voice for her character, so it's possible that Andrea here is rapping. But in either case, it doesn't quite sound like here. As far as the rap itself goes, eh. It works well. It's "rap-y" enough, without sounding too adult. It fits. Pinkie saying "that...was pretty terrible" with a very serious look on her face is genius. She just before her rap was super ecstatic about the terribly terrible play that Fluttershy put together. And with her personality, she's always so excited about everything. Her being serious here is just...yeah.

Rarity's turn. Costumes. Of course. But see, why didn't she put that together with Fluttershy and put on the play that way, like I already said? And again, I agree with Applejack here. It's a terrible idea to help someone learn, just by dressing up as characters. Another great non-verbal expression. When AJ says that, Rarity gives a fantastic deadpan look. AJ saying "you are up a creek" is odd. Maybe I'm just used to that phrase always being "up a shit creek", but I feel that's another one of those "did they really just say that?" moments.

So Dash gives up, and Twilight tries to encourage her to keep trying. She brings something up here that I feel is important. Dash has read a lot of Daring Do books, and we know that she has retained the information in those books because she fangasms all over an entire episode about it. So, again, why isn't she retaining this knowledge? It's a rather thin thread, but I think her failing to learn in any other capacity is a little forced. But it's ok, because Dash retains things in a special way. While she's...flying. Ok, I get it. She has to pay attention while she flies. Another thing to add to the "shouldn't she have known already" list. Could have saved everyone the trouble and just read a book in the air. Now we see her sleeping on a cloud, that turns into a raincloud. Is Dash's mood affecting the cloud? That can't be good if true, because we see her sleeping on a cloud pretty much constantly. She wouldn't have any real reason to actively change the cloud either. I don't know what's going on here. Oh, yeah. Dash saw the CMC's mouths covered in food from that height. Her "ability" is also reminiscent of a lot of television shows. I'm gonna use the one I know for reference, which is Psych. This is superhero-level awareness. Not only is she doing it while at a far distance, noticing tiny details, she's doing it while focusing on other things. On Psych, Shawn has to focus on anything he needs to retain, and has a memory capable of recalling any little detail he sees, while at the same time being able to see the tiniest details of anything that any normal human couldn't. Throughout the series, he gets even better at it. He's using this to fake being psychic, so it stands to reason that he and his dad are damn near superpowered (because his dad taught him, and he shows it from time to time). Yes, My Little Pony is a fantasy show set in a world full of magic, but we haven't really seen any indication that normal human senses have any differences in this world. Rainbow Dash's ability is beyond what her sense would normal allow, and she should be hailed as a superhero, and not a lame one like in Mysterious Mare-Do-Well.

So Twilight uses this ability to teach Rainbow Dash, by effectively making a mobile play during their flight. See, a PLAY. Oh yeah, part of the whole superpowered TV trope thing. Twice the show does a little time reversal to show what happened. Another really cool trick that we haven't seen before. Rainbow aces the test, and presumably we'll see her later on as a member of the Reserves.

No real Pinkie Factor here, since she was a part of the plot. But I will say, even outside the rap, she was acting very..."hip"? She said "thang", which...yeah. I found it odd, since it's not really something we've seen from her before.

So, great gags, nothing super over-the-top. Great character development. Not so much Dash, but the evidence of previous development shown in this episode. Good, relate-able story. Great visuals. I will say this is probably the best episode of season 4. Definitely one of.