So the episode starts off with Dash at Wonderbolt Academy, ready to take off for the weekend. In the meantime, Spitfire has new hopefuls she has to crush in order to see if any of them were Wonderbolts material. Rainbow Dash leaves only to find that both her and Twilight have been called by the map to solve a friendship problem in Cloudsdale. Firstly, I'd like to say that I *love* the chance to see Dash in her work environment. She's at ease with her teammates, and it shows. To me that's the best sign that Dash is really on her way to growth and maturity both as a Wonderbolt, and as a pony.
The new ponies are adorable. Spitfire takes great delight, as you can tell, in scaring the horseapples out of them and getting them to jump through hoops so she can see who is worth giving a shot at a great future. Just as an aside, I love that Spitfire *really* enjoys this. The leader of an elite team who is in charge of training ponies should invest their entire selves into the proper discipline and growth of ponies they wish to see advance. She does a great job here, and I'm not just saying that because I have a massive crush on strong admiration for modicum of respect for Spitfire.
So they find out quickly that two hopefuls are best friends, Sky Stinger, and Vapor Trail, who help one another. The problem is that with the Wonderbolts you have to be a team player, yes, but you also have to be a strong solo performer, or it just won't work out. The problem is that while Sky Stinger thinks he's the greatest flyer since Rainbow Dash, Vapor Trail has been actively helping him without his knowledge.
I have to say the method Twilight and Dashie use to work out the problem didn't seem like the greatest plan, and it showed when Sky and Vapor had a falling out. Of course, our two adorable heroines find a better way to get them to finally work together, and to build confidence in one another, is successful, and they both get into the Wonderbolt Academy as cadets.
All in all, I liked the lesson, which to me was that we should support our friends and build them up, but not lie to them just to make them feel good. When you do that, you only set them up to fail. Be truthful with your friends, and build their confidence from a genuine love and respect for them and their abilities. Honesty is the best policy.
Hm, that sounds like it should have been an Applejack episode. Ah well.
On a final note, I love that we got to see Twilight nerd out, and Rainbow Dash zonk out during Twily's instruction courses. They felt very in-character, which is a nice change of pace because it seems this season they've been somewhat off in their behavior, which is a complaint that has been going around lately.
