Episode review: S5E13: "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?"

If there's anything around here more epic than this, I want it caught and shot now

After last week's wonderful episode, most of us were on a high. This mood was punctured a bit by the mess Hasbro made of their hiatus announcement, but at least we had one more ep before the break. This one, with its Philip K. Dick title reference, was that dreaded thing: a multi-credited episode. Scott Sonneborn wrote it, from a story by Jayson Thiessen and Jim Miller. Still, these things have to come good sometimes, right? And this one, mirabile dictu, did just that.

It's no secret that I'm not as much of a rabid Luna fan as a large chunk of the fandom, but I have been warming to her over the last season or so. This episode starts with another Nightmare Moon transformation – or so it seems, until we discover that it was all a dream. Still, it gave the team an excuse to bring back Rainbow Power for a few moments. I still don't particularly like it – certainly not as much as the Elements of Harmony – but it's pretty harmless here, and putting it in a dream allows us to pretend it doesn't really count!

Then, after a little bit of lampshading of Spike's side-character status, we get into the proper stuff. The Tantabus [sic] is almost literally a nightmare made flesh, and it proves to be a very dangerous opponent indeed. By the time it grows strong later in the episode, there's a very real chance that it could turn Equestria into a "living nightmare". I like it when this happens – when we're reminded that the world of My Little Pony is a dangerous place, as it has been since G1 days.

Luna does a lot of serious magic in this episode

This is Luna's first central role since "Luna Eclipsed" (as opposed to those eps in which she helped the CMC), and personally I think it's a good deal better. Although there's a potential plothole – why didn't she tell the Mane Six that she created the Tantabus earlier? – it doesn't cause any real problems. It's interesting to find that Luna is still unable to forgive herself for what she did; I do think the writers missed a trick by not having the Mane Six explicitly state their forgiveness at the end.

Dream worlds are always a tempting prospect for cartoon creators, since they can use them to do things that don't fit into their normal universe. So it is here, with the ponies' nightmares starting out moderately odd (Rarity) and proceeding through mildly worrying (Fluttershy) to extremely disturbing (Rainbow), then back to fairly gentle (Twilight). As it turns out, though, it's Pinkie who actually sets up the major battle to come.

And once the shared dream is built (impressive stuff, Luna!), there is where things go completely... well, I could say completely "Slice of Life" and you'd know what I meant! "Best friends" LyraBon as a pushmi-pullyu (or CatDog if your cultural memory doesn't go back before the late 1990s), the very brief return of Flutterbat, walking lampposts and Berry Punch's head floating off as a balloon. We also get flying muffins and a gigantic Derpy, because why not?

And to think, this episode wasn't even written by Larson...

Oh yes, and Princess Big Mac. Not being any sort of anime fan, I didn't realise quite how obvious the Sailor Moon parallel was until it was pointed out to me, but it's hilarious even so. I hope it's a one-off, but it's another little nod to the fandom, of that I'm sure. This isn't my favourite scene from this episode, though: that honour goes to the sight of Hero Spike riding Giant Derpy into the fray – don't forget, this is a real, serious fight, even though we're in a dream.

The ending, in which Luna confesses her guilt and explains that she created the Tantabus is really rather moving, and I was happy to see her find peace at the end. (I do wonder whether we might see that dream world again, though.) Luna gets some pretty good development here, and I don't think anyone could now complain that she was the forgotten princess. (Celestia, on the other hand...) For all its odd blend of seriousness and weirdness, this is a very nice ep.

One final thought: anyone who read the Nightmare Rarity arc in the IDW comics will probably be struck by this episode. Although there are enough differences that it's much more than simply an adaptation, I do wonder whether that comic story might have had some influence on the writers. It's worth remembering that the arc after that one was a truly hilarious story about... Big Mac. The more you know, as the cool kids said a few years ago.

Note that Twilight never actually looks at her old home

Best quote: Princess Big Macintosh: "*zap* *zap* Eeyup!"
(Because I'll never get the chance to write "Princess Big Macintosh" here again...)

Yays

• Excellent character development for Luna
• A proper "monster" that posed an immediate, serious threat
• Well-realised Dream Ponyville, with the right amount of weirdness
• Fluttershy riding Evil Giant Monster Angel into battle
• Several hilarious touches and callbacks
• The all-too-brief resurrection of the Golden Oak Library
• Great background and incidental music

Neighs

• Never really explained why Spike was left out to start with
• Pinkie, talking about her nightmare to Luna, came across as rather stupid
• If you want to be really picky, it should be "Tantibus"
• Where are my songs, people? Where are my songs?

★★★★