My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Season 3 Episode 9

If you've been reading my reviews, then you know that I love the character Spike in MLP: FiM. Ever since season 2, he's been doing a lot of things and was even the hero in the season 3 opener. So when his new episode was coming up, I was excited. So how does it hold up? Well it all starts in the Ponyville Library, where Twilight is getting ready for some reading and she gives Spike the day off. Spike does some things on a list first, but when it's finished he gets bored. He finds a hot air balloon, but just as he wants to get on it, the rope tying it comes loose and he goes to get it. Spike ties the rope to a tree in the Everfree Forest, but runs into some Timberwolves. Just as Spike is about to be eaten though, Applejack comes in to save the day. After defeating the Timberwolves, Spike decides to pay Applejack back by spending the rest of his days with her under a Noble Dragon Code. Spike goes around Sweet Apple Acres to do things such as cleaning a pig, helping bake pies, and cleaning the kitchen. Unfortunately, Spike makes a big mess with each task he does for Applejack. After Spike gives Rarity a bad piece of pie and being allowed by Twilight to follow his Dragon Code, Rainbow comes by and decides to help out. She tries to get Spike to make a tower of rocks for her to crash into in hopes of him getting too tired, but it fails. Applejack soon gets the rest together in hopes of finding a way to get spike to stop with his code. She comes up with a plan to fake another Timberwolf attack with the use of her friends. The plan though fails when Spike realizes it's a fake since Timberwolves' breath can be smelled a mile away. Suddenly though, Applejack and Spike see real Timberwolves and Applejack once again defeats them. Suddenly though, the pieces of the Timberwolves form together to create a giant one. Applejack then gets stuck and tries to tell Spike to run for it, but he stays behind and defeats it. He gets Applejack free and the both run off to meet up with the others. Applejack tells Spike that she doesn't want his help anymore and he agrees to calling off the Noble Dragon Code so he can go back with Twilight. Our episode ends with Spike helping Twilight around the library with her reading. This episode was rather mediocre and a disappointing one for Spike. Some of the gags were good, especially Pinkie with her mustache. A couple of Spike's antics were funny. We got to see the Timberwolves from Family Appreciation Day again and they were awesome, especially the big one towards the end. However, this episode doesn't really hold up that well. I have two complaints with this episode. The first one being how Spike acted. I have no problem with him being noble and helping Applejack for saving his life. Unfortunately he acted a little too goofy with what he did. I know it's supposed to be funny and that there needed to be jokes with some of Spike's actions. But they seemed to push his goofiness a little bit too far in this episode. I mean not being able to clean properly? Isn't that what he does in Twilight's library? The baking thing. We've seen him cook, so what happened? I guess you can say he's trying too hard in this episode for Applejack. But still, he's acting almost OOC here. The second issue is this so called Dragon Code. At first I thought it was something Spike made up, but we later learn it is real. The problem is that we learn nothing of it really. We don't get to understand it's origins or anything like that. Twilight and Spike both talk like it's really important, but yet we barely learn anything of it. Did it start because another dragon started this? Did Spike really come up with this on his own? Tell us! At least show us a book where it showed the code and its meaning. Don't just leave us in the dark like that. Aside from those two flaws, this episode is still pretty decent, but not the best Spike episode. It's nowhere nearly as bad as Owl's Well That Ends Well. I just think Spike could've been handled better and that the Dragon Code needed more of an explanation. Not to mention the giant timberwolf got killed off too fast. It's a pretty mediocre episode all around and a disappointing Spike episode.



FINAL SCORE: 5.5/10

Spike and Applejack in one episdoe together? Yay! AJ saves Spike from timberwolves. The Timber Wolves are impressive animated. But the episode is a slow slice of life. One of the highlights are ponies writing fan fics. 9/10

I think the strongest part of this episode was how relateable it was on a larger scale. I found myself wanting to send it to someone in my life who's doing just about the same thing Spike is - pushing himself on someone else because some code of his says he should, and ignoring the person in the process. MLP's strength is in how it delivers messages, which is why it's so great when it does so without beating the audience over the head with it.



I enjoyed this episode - especially the timber wolves (I love it when you see something and know what they'll be called before it's said - like with the critters in Avatar). I'd love to see them again, possibly in relation to Zecora and how she deals with them.

I find Spike to be a very likable character but I never found him to be my favorite character ever. I was actually pretty excited watching this episode though. Unfortunately, it was a letdown. The episode has its good and the episode has its, I wouldn't necessarily use the word "BAD" but more of a word "WEAK". The animation for the Timber Wolves is extremely impressive and it's one of the best animations that the show has given. They were just drawn so detailed and very colorful. There really wasn't that much humor here too. Spike got pretty annoying and overexaggerated with the whole Dragon Code and it was just got very old. The positives was some of the humor, though not much, put into the episode. I enjoyed Applebloom's cameo in this episode, Pinkie Pie's minor role was hilarious especially that RANDOM moment when she asks Applejack "I just have one question" then Applejack responds "What's that" and then it cuts back to Pinkie Pie in a mustache... Pinkie Pie and the mustache gag was definitely the most hilarious as hell moment of the episode, LOVE the animation to the Timber Wolves and seeing Applejack rescuing Spike was really awesome to see. After the part where Spike takes the Dragon Code is when the episode started to fall apart and go so wrong. The pretend Timber Wolf attack was pretty humorous and Rainbow Dash doing that roar was hilarious haha. The Timber Wolf action scenes were exciting too but the final action scene with the Timber Wolf fell apart felt a bit rushed and could've done something more. Spike did get on my nerves in this episode though after a while and I think if the writers used a different kind of story for a concept like this then it probably would've been better. Nonetheless, this episode is NOT a god awful or poor episode but it ain't exactly a true masterful story either it's pretty forgettable if you ask me. I'll probably forget about this episode after a month but for what it was... it was an okay episode and between this episode and "Magic Duel"... I would rather watch this episode again if I had two choices with those two episodes. Could've been better but it could've been worse too so a so-so episode in my opinion. But yeah, if you're a Spike fan you might like it but I highly suggest not rushing to watch this episode though just to save the disappointment. 6.5/10