This was my first time drawing Flurry Heart! She’s the cutest baby in the show, by far!

🐌 SYNOPSIS 🐌
Twilight and Spike have a big day planned in the form of visiting and entertaining sick foals at the Ponyville Hospital. But when exhausted parents Shining Armor and Princess Cadance stop by with Flurry Heart, Twilight is eager to spend the day with her beloved niece. Determined to prove she can be the Best Aunt Ever while keeping to her packed schedule, Twilight agrees to watch over Flurry, despite Spike’s apprehension.

🐌 IMPRESSIONS AND STUFF 🐌
Starting out, it’s really sweet of Twilight and Spike to offer to cheer up the sick children at the hospital. Maybe a minor thing, but it’s nice to see Twilight’s still so involved with the residents of Ponyville. She’s really grown into her princess role well by this point.

Man, Shining and Cadance are looking real rough. But that’s not surprising to me. Parenthood is a lot of work, especially with an alicorn baby to handle. It’s no wonder they needed a breather! But even as difficult a job it is to raise Flurry Heart, they couldn’t stop thinking of their daughter nearly every moment they were away from her. I think a lot of parents (especially of newborns/young kids) could understand that feeling. Really drives home how much they love their child and that, despite the challenges, love being around her. Though with that being said… their subplot was pretty boring. Sure, it was kinda funny seeing them interact with Spearhead and his unique view on the arts, but they were utterly forgettable. Unfortunately, both of them as characters are falling into a stale mold, where they don’t go beyond their parental concern for Flurry Heart. I hope they get a chance to flesh out as individuals as well as a couple sometime in the future.

Spearhead was a funny dude! I actually found he made Shining and Cadance’s side-plot more bearable to watch. He’s just… so in his own little world and it’s just great fun seeing other characters try to comprehend him. He’s super easy-going and has this “dudebro” feel, so it makes sense why he’d be a good friend of Shining Armor. He was even very understanding of their wanting to leave to be with their foal. “GO TO HER!”. I ended up loving this goofball. XD

The entire bonding scene between Twilight and Flurry was charming. Like, nothing was wrong with that entire scene, it’s exactly how I always imagined Twilight being with her baby niece. I always knew Twi would spoil Flurry Heart rotten whenever she got the chance! The little scene where they’re levitating the bears and the hilariously endearing way Flurry Heart tried imitating her aunt was… Ahhhhh! 💖 It isn’t hard to see why Twilight couldn’t resist spending time with Flurry despite having a tight schedule. Even though she’s only a baby, she’s got a lot of personality already and is definitely a more lovable depiction of an infant. Flurry’s so innocent and sweet, I couldn’t help but smile widely whenever she and Twilight were playing together. And Twilight couldn’t be prouder to know that her niece is already showing a knack for magic, making their bonding even more believable. Please have more episodes with her and Aunty Twi, they’re pure diabetes together. :D

Twilight was written excellently, I was completely happy with her. Her shameless fawning over Flurry Heart was very enjoyable, and her reluctance to turn down a chance at spending quality time with her was understandable – especially given how easy it is for her to normally manage demanding schedules. So, I couldn’t blame her for not foreseeing the problems that inevitably popped up during the episode. Her determination to be the BAE (Best Aunt Ever) was a mixture of cute and funny. While many fans think her taking all the blame for when Flurry Heart got out of control was wrong, I feel she was totally right in taking full responsibility. Spike had consistently warned her about their strict schedule not allowing for them to properly focus on a baby, Flurry Heart was rightfully frustrated due to being ignored (not to mention she’s a BABY), and much of this wouldn’t have happened if Twilight just admitted that she couldn’t handle both jobs at once. Her learning not to take on too much responsibility is important because we all know she has a bad tendency to overload herself. And the realization that quality time spent with a loved one is more meaningful than the amount was a lesson I don’t think has ever been covered on the show before. I feel it was very mature for Twilight to realize all of this, so I don’t understand why some fans feel she was in the wrong for owning up. All of the times Flurry caused trouble were times Twilight and Spike should have been keeping an eye on her. It’s in no way appropriate to blame a baby when it’s the caretakers’ job to watch over them and prevent mishaps. Twilight even made sure to pick up apology treats for whoever was inconvenienced during her outing. She’s shown a lot of maturity in this episode, and her characterization was highly enjoyable and spot-on. Yes, Flurry could have accidentally caused harm to the ill children, but it was still up to Twilight to keep an eye on her and prevent things from escalating as far as they did.

And sure, it was a bit idiotic for Twilight to not just have Spike run some of the errands while she watched Flurry Heart. Fair point that there were options she could have taken to make the day less stressful for everyone involved. But I maintain she was heavily wrapped up in her image of the “Best Aunt Ever” and wasn’t thinking of any alternatives. It’s a believable thing for her to do.

But what was really stupid was for Twilight to bring a baby into a hospital room full of sick (and likely very contagious) children. You were asking for trouble on some level with that decision. XD

I already liked Flurry Heart, but this episode got me adoring the little puffball. While only a baby, she had a fun and distinct personality: curious, helpful, intelligent, and kindhearted. Her eagerness to spend time with Aunty Twily was highly endearing, and her growing frustration with being ignored was justified. All the times she caused problems was done out of childish innocence rather than a need to cause trouble, and not really her fault considering Twilight and Spike should have been watching her closely (seriously, did the Season 6 opening teach them nothing about how much damage an infant alicorn can cause?). Not only did I feel bad for her when she was put on the sidelines by Twilight (although she was simply busy), but I also sympathized when she tried to stop the Cake twins from fighting over that toy. She clearly meant well in everything she did and she got outright attacked for her troubles. And she deserves credit for only getting out of hand when she lost her Whammy. Most kids (babies especially) would have started wailing and throwing a tantrum long ago. I wonder if her higher intelligence and ability to seemingly understand the older characters stems from her alicorn status? She’s definitely more developed than Pound and Pumpkin Cake, who must be a bit older than her by now…

Getting used to Spike playing the voice of reason again! It’s been a while since I’ve seen him properly fill that role. I do have a slight concern about him always being this, however. I’m not saying I’m complaining about him being written as a competent, sensible character, because that’s exactly what Spike is (or is supposed to be). I just hope the writers don’t go too far in the opposite direction and make him infallible, because that’s just as bad as making him a total idiot. He’ll get really boring fast if he’s always in the right. I don’t think we want him to become a know-it-all. But I’m not going to assume that’s what’s happening here: it’s way too early in this season to do that. We’ve got lots of episodes left for them to flesh him out properly. It’s helped a lot that he wasn’t so above it all himself: he was just as likely to not keep an eye on Flurry as Twilight was. And him stepping up to fulfill Twilight’s promise to cheer up the sick foals was great, showing a lot of maturity on his part as well. He’s a very sweet little guy, taking over Twilight’s duties so she could spend time with Flurry like she wanted to, while also preventing the foals from missing out. And he’s an excellent reader to boot! Must get it from big sister Twily. :D

To answer the question of why Sunburst (it being his job to curb Flurry’s magic) wasn’t an option for watching Flurry Heart? Who knows! He may have been incapable of doing so, or just had other things going on. The guy probably can’t babysit on a constant basis, so it’s not at all odd that he wasn’t mentioned here. Who knows, maybe he was available, but Shining and Cadance felt Twilight would jump at the chance to spend more time with Flurry (and being correct in that assumption!). Whatever the reason, we got an adorable episode out of it, so I’m not bothered with the specifics.

Pinke Pie made a minor appearance, but she was great! She’s just an expert on all things sweets-related, and I loved that callback to her secret party-planning cave. She was her usual bouncy self, but not obnoxiously bouncing off the walls. Always a good way to tackle her appearances.

Why aren’t the Cake twins wearing diapers? Seems to be a VERY bad idea, especially since they’re inside of a bakery. Yeesh! And they were super bratty this time around, actually trying to charge and attack Flurry. I mean, it’s not unrealistic: kids can be jerks. But the mess that happened in Sugarcube Corner wasn’t actually Flurry’s fault, so that added insult to injury. :/

Nice to see Cheerilee getting a bigger role! Her and Twilight seem to have an easy friendship, and I like that a lot. Both being teachers in their own right, it certainly makes sense!

Nurse Redheart made a more significant appearance! I don’t think we’ve heard her speak since Season 1, so that was a nice surprise. Her voice really suits her, and even though we didn’t get much characterization from her, I liked what we saw. She clearly cares about her patients and doesn’t handle tense situations well (her little faint, haha!). She’s a cutie!

Twilight’s reconciliation with Flurry Heart and her acknowledging she was being unintentionally neglectful was beautiful. It takes a lot to admit that it’s your responsibility to look after the children in your care and not place any blame on them. That’s not to say kids shouldn’t be held accountable, but Flurry’s literally a baby and has zero accountability or knowledge of the damage she could cause with her magic. All she wanted to do was play with her Aunt, and she mistook Twilight’s sternness for anger and disappointment. Flurry easily forgave Twilight and came around when she realized she was still loved, and it’s just perfect to see things get resolved without too much hassle. Twilight finally admitted she shouldn’t have agreed to watch Flurry with such a jam-packed schedule, so it’s all good. Even better, she still kept her promises: while she spent the rest of the day having fun with Flurry Heart, Spike stepped up to entertain the sick foals at the hospital. Everything was wrapped up cleanly.

🐌 OVERALL OPINION/SCORING 🐌
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Third episode in a row that I ended up loving on nearly every level! Believe me, I’m pretty shocked at this myself. The season is starting out remarkably strong and reigniting my love for the series.

The bond between Twilight and Flurry Heart is one of my favorite things ever. It’s so sweet, innocent, and believable. Watching over Flurry Heart lead to Twilight showing how far she’s come. She still has a bad tendency to pack too much into her schedule, but she soon realized her mistake in neglecting Flurry and took responsibility for her lack of forethought. Flurry was simply precious and my heart really went out to her whenever she tried to get her aunt’s attention. Their making up was well-executed and heartfelt.

Two good lessons in the form of quality time being more important than how much time you spend with someone, and that it’s important to be accountable when taking care of children (and that when it comes to infants, you’re the one completely responsible). Perhaps there are three lessons here: you shouldn’t take on more than you might be able to handle.

I only had a few nitpicks. Spike’s tendency to be a bit of a “I told you so” character, though that’s helped by him making the same mistakes as Twilight. And him stepping up and helping out rather than being smug about predicting the problems that happened. Shining and Cadance were rather sweet, but also extremely boring – but Spearhead was an amusing character that made their subplot more bearable. The lesson of “be careful of taking on too much responsibility” has been done before in episodes like “Baby Cakes” as well, though I feel this episode played the babysitting trope much better.

In fact, this feels like “Baby Cakes” done completely right. Babysitting episodes can easily go bad, but this one was a very funny, exciting, and heartwarming take on it. It’s earned it’s perfect score, and I recommend it to anyone who wants a big dose of cute in their day.