I'm holding off on watching the leaked episodes; it only makes the hiatus longer.
... Come to think of it, I should probably start doing those discussion topics in the Community thread again starting next week.
Once Upon a Zeppelin
This was a really fun and charming episode.
From Chained Prometheus's post, due to the size of the spoiler tag, I thought Discord would appear in the episode, so Iron Will was a big shock. He was used a bit oddly here, since this seems way more like a Flim Flam Brothers scheme, but I'm really happy that they didn't treat him like a monster, which was one of the weirdest parts of "Putting Your Hoof Down". He was troublesome and manipulative, but everything was perfectly legal and he acted as agreed.
This was another moral that really applies more to adults than kids, but I guess it applies to them too. Set up boundaries between work and relaxation, and don't let people Slack you during vacations. This is a moral that applies especially well to Twilight, and I'm glad they finally got around to it.
When Twilight's parents oohed and awed at the tree that Twilight was supposedly born in, I half expected them to explain that while she wasn't born there, that
was where she was conceived.
Given that Twilight's mother, Twilight Velvet, was able to use magic to lift herself, in addition to Shining Armor (and Flurry), I think it's clear where the crazy magic power comes from. She was a pretty fun character, while Night Light was charming in his plainness.
Shining Armor and Cadance were handled well, with the former's airsickness and particularly the latter trying to keep Flurry under control when she played with the other foals, confused about why the other parents weren't concerned.
I think I'll count Star Tracker as a suitor for Twilight for
my bingo (NOW UPDATED), because that's clearly what he was after. All I need is either Moondancer returning, or LGBT+ acknowledgment, or both Twilight bringing up the Friendship Journal problems and Chrysalis not returning, but unfortunately it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Anyway, Star Tracker was great, and I loved that while he was presented creepily, in the end he was just over-eager and backed off once Twilight set boundaries. It's like night and day comparing this to how fans were portrayed in "Fame and Misfortune".
Overall, I liked this a lot, and it's nice to finally see Twilight's parents.