The Cutie Mark Chronicles

"The Cutie Mark Chronicles"
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode

A young blue pegasus with a rainbow-colored mane blasts upward from the ground with a large circular rainbow explosion in her wake. She has a shocked expression on her face.

Rainbow Dash, as a filly, performing her first ever Sonic Rainboom.
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 23
Directed by Jayson Thiessen
James Wootton (co-director)
Written by M.A. Larson
Produced by Sarah Wall
Chris Bartleman (executive)
Stephen Davis (executive)
Lauren Faust (executive)
Kirsten Newlands (executive)
Blair Peters (executive)
Featured music "So Many Wonders"
Performed by Andrea Libman
Composed by Daniel Ingram
Orchestrated by Steffan Andrews
Editing by Tom Harris
Rob Renzetti (story)
Production code 123
Original air date April 15, 2011 (2011-04-15)
Running time 22 minutes
Episode chronology

"The Cutie Mark Chronicles" is the twenty-third episode of the first season of the Canadian-American animated television series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. The episode was written by M.A. Larson and directed by supervising director Jayson Thiessen. In this episode, the "Cutie Mark Crusaders", three fillies looking to earn their cutie marks, learn from the older mares of how they earned their own cutie marks; in the process, the older mares realize they share a common destiny. The episode has been praised as having a complex plot for a children's program that emphasizes the core values of the overall show.

Plot

The three Cutie Mark Crusaders fillies—Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle—try to earn their cutie marks via ziplining, but the attempt ends in failure. They come up with an idea to try to learn how other ponies in town got their cutie marks, with Scootaloo insisting they talk to her idol, Rainbow Dash, first. On the way into town to find Rainbow Dash, they encounter the other five main characters instead, and learn of their cutie mark stories (each told in flashbacks when they were younger fillies), much to Scootaloo's impatience:

The Crusaders finally make it to Sugarcube Corner where, along with the other five ponies, Rainbow Dash is waiting for them. She goes into her own story, continuing from Fluttershy's: as she continued to race the bullies, she put on a burst of speed and executed her first Sonic Rainboom (a combination of a sonic boom and a rainbow-colored effect), gaining her rainbow-lightning cutie mark as well as winning the race. As Rainbow retells her story, the other five realize that this Rainboom led them each to gain their own marks, and conclude that they are much closer than they all expected. Though Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle empathize with the older ponies as they share a hug, Scootaloo feels the entire effort was all for naught and suggests another activity to get their cutie marks, before being dragged into a hug with her friends.

Reception

Todd VanDerWerff, writing on the overall show for the A.V. Club, used "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" as an example of the show's overarching theme of "the way that little kids often look up to and emulate teenagers, even though those teenagers don’t have it all together" and letting the viewer "in on their insecurities and problems". He further praised the episode as one that "boasts a surprisingly complex story (for kids TV) where all of the flashbacks tie together and reinforce the sense of destiny".[1] Sherilyn Connelly of SF Weekly considered the episode as "one of Season 1's most complicated, carefully constructed stories, working with what we know about the characters and expanding their backstories while continuing to build the show's world". Connelly continued that it was "a confident episode that would have been a great season finale".[2]

Home media release

The episode is part of the Season 1 DVD set, released by Shout Factory, on December 4, 2012.[3] It is also part of the "Adventures of the Cutie Mark Crusaders" DVD, which was released on February 24, 2015.[4]

References

  1. VanDerWerff, Todd (2011-04-25). "My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic". A.V. Club. Retrieved 2012-04-25.
  2. Connelly, Sherilyn (2012-04-25). "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Season 1, Episode 23". SF Weekly. Retrieved 2012-04-25.
  3. "My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: Season 1". Amazon.com. 2012-12-04. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
  4. "My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: Adventures Of The Cutie Mark Crusaders". Shout! Factory. 2014-11-05. Retrieved 2014-11-05.
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