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@PopperFett

I fail to see why the idea is "inherently bad".

I believe no idea is inherently anything, it all depends on the intention and execution. Sure, a plan might require Machiavellian methods to pull off, but as they say, no omelet without breaking eggs.

I'd like to point out that bringing back a character that died is an entirely different beast than an existing character getting a bit of an upgrade. And that's not to say resurrection is a bad idea, either, it is one of the most popular tropes in storytelling (though most folks flop the execution somethin' fierce) so it must have some merit.

"Breaks off from what the series is really about", eh? In what way, exactly?

Last I checked, this series is all about friendship. Contrary to popular belief, hardships are part of that equation. Sure, it's an event that could drive a serious wedge between them, but wouldn't that be a good opportunity to explore the breaking and rebuilding of friendships?

Of course, the event would be a clear sign that we're entering the final phases of the show. But like I've said quite a few time by now, the show will end, sooner or later, whether we like it or not. Such is the law of mortality, I fear. The best we can hope for is that the end will be something that will be remembered for generations to come, rather than a slow, tortured demise.

And though one ends, another could begin. Here we have an intricate, well realized setting. It would be a terrible waste not to explore it further, no?

@Brownmane

Well, your logic is sound, as always, but I do think that a drastic change in the setting will effectively lead to the end of the popularity of the show among the brony demographic. An alicorn Twilight (I don't want to look at the spoilers,) strikes me (as you've said) as a good point to end the current series. If the series ends there, then it ends there. I'd be a little disappointed, because I think there are other interactions to explore along with new areas listed on the official map, but I'm OK with that.

But I do tend to "side" with Popperfett. A bulldog with makeup is still a bulldog. A bad plot (or a series' threatening plot) written into an episode by good writers is still going to be a bad or series' ending episode.

Even more than that, this isn't like Pinkie Sense where you can ignore the fact that it ever existed. Should Twilight become an alicorn and/or a princess, then unless it's a temporary spell of something, then Twilight will remain an alicorn or a princess. She'd probably stationed in Canterlot…

With a new life…

With a new set of responsibilities…

Away from the rest of the Mane 6.

Unless you watch the show for Twilight Sparkle's personality only, then everyone in Ponyville more or less is forgotten. Everyone isn't moving to Canterlot with her. She's no longer the librarian who's really good with magic. She's a royal advisor, if not a princess, in an entirely different city.

How is it even possible for the show to remain anything like it's been if Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Applejack, Big Mac, Granny Smith, Rarity, etc. aren't in the same town as Twilight? Do you focus on Twilight in the next season? It's not like each episode, someone would come to visit her. Do you sorta write Twilight off? The fact that the Mane Six are together is one thing that I don't think you can write away no matter how good you are. The dynamics that we've come to love would have been written out.

In this instance, the show is no longer "Friendship is Magic: as we've known it. Now I'm not really a person that fears change, but the room to experiment to keep the series and popularity of the show (at least among bronies) going might not be in changing the main character's race or making her into royalty. It's odd enough that the show is super popular among bronies.

Was it Lauren Faust? Probably not. We didn't love the other shows she had a hand in as much as this.

Was it the writers and the voice actresses? Probably not. We don't love Littlest Pet Shop or many other shows like FiM.

Animation? Design? Powerpuff Girls wasn't as popular.

It's probably the combination of all of these and more, including the interaction of the well-conceived characters. If you change something drastically in the show, then the show becomes something entirely different. And considering that this isn't the thing that most of us normally like, changing FiM to My Little Pony of any other iteration may not keep bronies interested in the same way.

It's not Cadance. The show doesn't need Cadance.
It's not Derpy Hooves. The show doesn't need Derpy Hooves.

…But you're thinking the show is going to be the same if you put the main character of Twilight Sparkle in Canterlot, potentially as an alicorn, away from the friends that interact with each other in every single episode so far, then I'd say you'd be wrong. It won't be. Whether or not it's good or not is almost irrelevant. Many shows are good.

But there aren't any shows like FiM. Not like this. And the show wouldn't be the same at all.
 
I think Popper is on to something if the show has drastic changes. But I'm not really worried if it does. The fandom will be big for a while after the hypothetical "big event," and the fanart will always be there even if it's in lessening amounts.
 
So yes, I have faith that M.A. Larson will make this an entertaining episode should Twilight become an alicorn or if she has to live in Canterlot for any reason.

I don't think he can make Twilight live in Ponyville in a context where she can be with her friends…

…if Twilight's a princess living in Canterlot. The episode might bring tears to my eyes with how good it is, but if Twilight becomes a princes/alicorn princess and has to live away from her friends…

Then what of the next season?

@Verbose

I think we're getting ahead of ourselves here… There are several factors that would determine the exact nature of the series after Twilight Sparkle ascends. We don't know the answer to enough of those questions to form a concrete answer.

But the closest thing I have to an answer is this… Younger Cadance didn't go straight for royal responsibility, and had enough time to take care of Twilight. In fact, I'm beginning to suspect Cadance could have done just about anything she wanted to in that time between her youth and being Royal Sized.

So what's to say Twilight couldn't do the same for… a little while? Sure she'd essentially have to spend the next few months to years planning how to either say goodbye, or somehow continue the relationship. But there would be time enough.

Of course, if it ever is addressed, a lot of the others have dreams that are easily accommodated in Canterlot as well:
→With Dash, the Wonderbolts work for Celestia, so they'd have a station in Canterlot.
→Rarity could gain a lot of business in Canterlot.
→Fluttershy could tend to Celestia's Royal Gardens of Animals (after figuring them out).
→Pinkie Pie… Does whatever she wants and not one being stops her.

Only loose end is Applejack, who would essentially have to pull a cart of apples in every so often to make the journey worth it. (Which sounds a lot like Obelisk from those Asterisk comics.)

Of course, there's always… "Plan B"…

Move the entire cast and anything of importance to another kingdom in which Twilight Rules over as sole Monarch. Which could be as close as… the other side of the ever-free forest. Witch doesn't sound that implausible considering the only thing special about Ponyville is that Granny-Smith needs the farm to be near the Everfree forest to make Zap Apples. And considering the other side of Everfree is deemed "Unexplored" by most denizens of Equestria, it's the perfect place to set up town.

… All they need is motivation… Such as all the buildings in pony-ville suddenly exploding due to Sombra Returning or some crazy Shenanigans. And the land turn barren or whatever even after Sombra is dealt with.

…
…
…
…

I… Think I just got carried away there…

But yeah, I'm trying to say we can have many more years of pony. Even if a definite end is "Inevitable".

@ZeroBlue

Doom Faust is amazing.
 
Yeah, the second part is a little extreme, but the first doesn't strike me as being all that likely either. Not without ending the show.

Rarity could very well leave for Canterlot, even without Twilight being in Canterlot. But I think that would come at the end of the series (i.e., the Mane 6 break up, Twilight becomes an advisor, Rarity lives in Canterlot, Dash gets in the Wonderbolts, AJ sticks to the farm, Fluttershy sticks to her animals, and Pinkie Pie…well, who knows.)

I don't think that removing the Mane 6 from Ponyville to put them with Twilight (who will still be a Princess. She'd only have time for the same cameos as Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.) You then ignore the CMC, Granny Smith, and various other recurring secondary characters.
 
But if you were to ask me, I don't think Twilight stays an alicorn (if she becomes one at all) or she doesn't become a princess. I think Ponyville will always be home until the actual given end of the series, even if there's an arc where Twilight and the others have to travel to some other land for a while. They'd eventually come back home to Ponyville.
 
And as for there being a "goodbye" season, this is where I trust the writers. I think they could turn a season where you know the show is going to end into something that isn't depressing. But I don't think even Mitch Larson could take a plot like "make Twilight into a Princess permanently" and make it so that the show is similar enough to what it is. I think the show should end at that point should that actually happen. I don't honestly think (or perhaps more accurately feel) like the show's going to end on Season 3 or Season 4 without a movie or spinoff though.

Now…if you want me to make sense of Twilight becoming a princess so that the show is still "Friendship is Magic:"

• Celly and Moon Butt have to go somewhere to do things.
• Twilight is temporary successor to the throne.
• 13-episode Season 3? 13-episode CMC SPINOFF TIEMS FOR SEASON 4.
• Get your CMC their cutie marks in 13 episodes or your Twilight Sparkle back!
• Get Twilight Sparkle back anyway. Celly and Moon Butt return from things.
• Begin where you left off before Celly and Moon Butt left.

That way, you can sell Princess Twilight Sparkle toys, sell CMC toys, keep everyone in Ponyville without it seeming odd, and bring Twilight back on occasion and after the Princesses trip without it seeming as out of place as reviving the spirit of chaos to help bring order to Equestria.

You could have avoided this.

@Verbose

I'm not convinced that the change would force Twilight into Canterlot. After all, Cadence seemed to lead a fairly normal life 'fore getting hitched and landing a job as empress to the crystal ponies.

Besides, don't you think a demigod (even a newly-ascended one) would get quite a bit of leeway in how they go about their business? After all, what's a century or two to the nigh-immortal? I don't think Celestia would deny her the simple pleasures of life even if she gets new, big responsibilities.

And I doubt the grand plan is to induct only Twilight into the club. After all, she's only one of six, and you can't have a colourful party without the whole gang.

So, while the ascension is potentially show-ending, it doesn't need to be. The next season could well be more of the same, just with Twi and co. coming to terms with the whole shebang. Or it could shift focus into an epic adventure of self-discovery for the whole group, with a divine membership card for all involved as the grand prize. Who knows, maybe we'll get both, if this goes into season 5 and beyond.

Of course, I understand the concerns about the show changing. But history is abundant with examples of the consequences of trying to stay the same. People always complain how long-runners like The Simpons or Family Guy "ran out of ideas". Then there's shows like Babylon 5 that started out with little continuity between episodes, but morphed into a big story told over multiple seasons. Which is quite interesting, because Babylon 5 is in many respects quite similar to our little ponies. Interesting characters, an intricate universe and plenty of humour to go along with the heavier stuff.

Of course, Babylon 5 isn't a kid's show. But who says kid's shows can't have a continuity or heavier themes? Gargoyles did, and while it wasn't a great success in its day, it has a devoted cult following to this day. I really don't understand the whole attitude that "kids are too dumb to understand this shit". Kids aren't dumb, just ignorant and inexperienced, and I don't think they appreciate being patronized like that. I know I didn't when I was a wee lad. As I recall, one of the things FiM has always been praised for is the fact that it doesn't treat its audience like they're drooling sub-humans.

So, the point I've been digressing from is that I think the show could pull off a transition into a more adventure-y, continuity based show. After all, here we have characters we've spent quite a while getting attached to, so we'll be quite invested in seeing what will happen to them. And let's not forget Faust's original vision was exactly that, an adventure show.

It would certainly be the true base-splitter for this fandom, true. But name a long-running fandom with no cracks in it, I dares ya. Such things are, unfortunately, par for the course.

@brownmane

No offense, but I'm going to ignore that last part about 'no cracks'. Either way, it really doesn't change the situation, so please don't be offended. Just my standpoint.

Anyway, I agree with Verbose mostly. The idea of Twilicorn/Pegalight without a doubt is show-changing. With her like that, everything will be different. New job, new responsibilities and new setting (if it makes sense).

As Verbs also touched, it brings a whole lotta issues with the rest of the plot: where do all the Mane 6 go? If they all go to Canterlot, as Verbs said, you lose all the side-characters from Ponyville. If she goes to Ponyville, well, you have major issues there too. And in both cases, Twilight won't be the nerdy bookworm we saw when this started; she'll be royalty. This means she won't be the 'same' Twilight Sparkle in a sense.

Plus, you have to wonder how all the rest of the cogs fill together, what to do. I mean, you literally just jumped the series forward an era. Also, Twilight being a princess means she's no longer a student, so who on earth is she or the others going to be writing to?

Now, temporary alicorn powerup that is ridded of by the end of the episode or the beginning of Season 4 (as a cliffhanger from S3), will probably do better than changing her entirely. I will have little issue if it's a temporary thing, so the show can continue as normal (relatively).

Anyway, as Verbs said: Good place to end the series, but a bad idea in the middle of it, as it changes what the series is about.

Verbose:

But if you were to ask me, I don’t think Twilight stays an alicorn (if she becomes one at all) or she doesn’t become a princess. I think Ponyville will always be home until the actual given end of the series, even if there’s an arc where Twilight and the others have to travel to some other land for a while. They’d eventually come back home to Ponyville.

^This. If Twilight were to become an alicorn/princess, I have great difficulty envisioning her hanging out around Ponyville. She'd pretty much just disappear from everyday life, and who knows what would happen to the rest of the mane 6. Who would the show still follow? As much as I hate to think about the end of the series, I'm afraid that's pretty much the only time a permanent transformation like that could take place.

But, as has been said several times before, a "temporary alicorn" Twilight would be just fine! Hey, a two part episode in which she becomes a princess, struggles with all the changes, then ultimately decides to go back and live life as normal in Ponyville sounds good to me. Throw in a cool villain of some sort and it's all set.

But in other news… New episode tomorrow! Woot!

What if
What if the "japanese MLP"
Is actually the sequel to MLP
And
And
And Twilight can transform at will
complete with elaborate Anime-style transformation sequence.

Before this discussion can go on, I have to ask. Are straight-to-DVD OVAs usually canon? If so, how much influence do OVAs have on the source show? (ie. MLP) It doesn't matter to me whether they are or not, I'm just wondering.

SOURCE

dear bronies, how do yall feel about this CRACKED.com article?

http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/4-insane-pieces-my-little-pony-fan-art-by-grown-men/

Discord.

Oh my gosh Discord.

Honestly, I can't even be bothered to read it, let alone form an opinion on it. Judging by Fifth's comments, I would probably find it stupid if I did, but then there's a lot of stupid stuff on the internet. Don't know if you were hoping for more there, but seriously, who's got time to waste reading negative opinions on a fanbase in which one happens to participate. I'll pass, maybe next time.

Someone already posted this, and it seems few of us care. It's a cracked article written by two non-periodic writers, who cares? Look at the middle half comments on the last page if you want any input on it.

Another clip for the new episode: Entertainment Weekly

@Cracked Article
I did read it yesterday, though it really was pretty dumb and sounded like it had been written by someone who had never been on the internet before last week or something.
When the very first sentence labels an entire fandom as 'sociopaths,' there really isn't a whole lot to say about it.
Yes, Mr. Author, porn exists, grimdark stuff exists, people really do like ponies.
Yes, they have all been mixed together.
Welcome to any internet fandom ever.
Really, the guy just seems to be astonished that anyone likes MLP in the first place.
We've been around for two and a half years now.
I thought these kinds of articles were ancient history.

@DeadParrot's Linked Clip…

There's something there that makes me wonder.

So what you're saying is…

…The ponies are actually transformers the whole time???

Mind = blown. Directed by Michael Bay.

I absolutely love the comment shitstorms on that article.

But not many people seem to be taking that seriously. The article was clearly written by an internet noob:

• Being offended by R34 in 2013
• Thinks SAM is the worst we have to offer. Oh hohohoho
• Thinks were doing this to be sociopaths
• Seems to think all that stuff is exclusive to Bronies
• Hasn't read Fallout Equestria
• Attempts to paint everything we see there as "shocking" when it's been going on for years
• Trying to be Saunbaby
• Only Saunbaby can be Saunbaby

I like how one commenter put it: Cracked.com has covered Dragons Having Sex With Cars in full detail. They are not allowed to act shocked and horrified by these things.

"Go Home Internet, You're Drunk."

Edit: Wish I had an appropriate image to go with that phrase, but it's taking too much effort to find one.

I love how Brownmane is capable of perfectly presenting how I think about the situation, and even not get annoyed by the doomsday scenarios.

@Verbose, Brownmane and Popper.

You all three give reasonable scenarios of how the episode may go and what the effect of those situations will be in the the canon. Problem with these and many many MANY other possible scenarios and outcomes is that they center on speculations:
1. Twilight, if she becomes demigod tier, will stay that way FOREEEEEEEEVER.
2. Twilight will leave and fly off (heh) to Canterlot once she reaches demigod tier, leaving her friends and Ponyville behind. Also Princess duties.
3. Twilight becoming demigod tier, whether temporary or permanent, will generate a gap between the friendship of the mane six.

While certainly possible and making sense, none have been confirmed. Hell, Twilicorn hasn't even been confirmed yet. All Twilicorn arguments are based on speculations and bronies who made a mountain out of a molehill. The creators could be fucking with us on Twitter for all we know (we are a pretty gullible and easy to trick fandom).

Sure, the signs are there, so I don't blame you, but speculation =/= fact. I'm not confirming any Twilicorn before I've seen that episode or a leak which clearly shows it in canon. Some plush designs which "might" be canon don't persuade me.

A lame article made as an obvious crack at Bronies by some wannabe Saunbaby (and COMPLETELY failing at it).

Yeah, no. Maybe if it was written by someone who was funny (like Saunbaby) I might laugh or get offended depending on how the article would come out. But I can only shake my head at the fact that this guy was allowed to write articles.

Forget about Cracked for a moment, let's see some best favorite pone!

I'm just going to assume that the above gif isn't from the clip of tomorrow's episode, otherwise, I'd have to say something mean.

@dat gif
Uh oh… Spoiler avoidance status: FAILURE! Oh well, I almost made it to Saturday.

DAMN IT WHY DO I KEEP COMING BACK HERE! I don't even go to equestriadaily anymore because I've been trying to avoid spoilers. I miss equestriadaily. The only time I go there is when a new episode is uploaded to youtube. You think that makes me happy?

It doesn't.

You guys I found a scrunchy face tumblr

Also this article about the big brony doccumentary seems to have sparked a bit of interest. You guys have any opinions about it?

@cracked article

@disturbedbrony

The feel we feel is the same feel.

Umm….This gif is not from the clip of tomorrow's episode (Lol I haven't even watched the clip!) in no way shape or form and I am not saying this to avoid a thorough ass kicking from you. No siree………………..

Edit: I would delete or edit my post but now it won't let me. Man sure sucks to be me preps my anti-hate shields

Out of Curiosity, does anyone have any Pre-Episode Rituals?

Every New Episode, I refill a number of Glass bottles I have lying around with Pepsi Next.

I then drink them over the course of the time leading up to the episode, slowly putting myself into some indescribably Hyper State.

Once the last one is drunk, I burn off all that energy in the Noble Practice of Step-Mania/Dance-Dance-Revolution, set to songs from the show.

Once the Episode is done Streaming, I swing by here and Type up what I can. (But because it would have only just aired at the time, I'm not sure whether to Spoiler tag or not).

…And that's it, besides trying to get to sleep afterwards that is, which ranges from impossible to incredibly easy.

ZeroBlue4 wrote:

Out of Curiosity, does anyone have any Pre-Episode Rituals?

First I go to bed at some horrendously late hour of the morning (3am, 4am), then I wake up late (11ish), curse about missing the episode, eat a bowl of cheerios and a bit of whatever type of fruit I happen to have around, shower. check EQD and DHN, check email, look/review at compiling data on my laptop, and stare blankly at my screen.

It's around 12:30/1:00pm by this time, and I go to find the episode on YouTube and watch it. After that, I browse Derpibooru/KYM/various other pony places.

Remove the YouTube part and what's after it, and you actually just have my normal Saturday. I may go see a movie if I'm bored.

Holy fuck, I just realized that tomorrow is Saturrrdurr already.

Damn, does time fly fast these days.

That .gif better not be from tomorrow's episode.
It is, isn't it?
Fucking spoilers.

(Off-screen person) No shit, Sherlock.

And tomorrow should be today in about… 16 minutes.
Well, shit.

I have not discussed here in a long time, mostly since my speech skills aren't very good right now and my head is full of ponies, TF2, Minecraft, BF3, AC3, PS2, HL3…

And I can't even run PS2 with this crappy graphics card.

As a non-brony,
Meh.. This is valid for any fandom. Like pokemon. Like Laventer town syndrome, R34 stuffs, blah blah..
I don't really care the darkside of any fandom. I always trying to good stuff from them.
Not a new thing.

@disturbedbrony/Verbose:

@ZeroBlue: Wake up 15 minutes before rerun episode, eat breakfast, ponies.

@IAmSlow & doc editorial

Hmm… I haven't seen the documentary, but it doesn't take a genius to know what they were going for when they made it.

The real question is… has anyone ever made a documentary without any bias? Documentaries don't simply document, they are there to send a message, just like any other piece of art. I agree with the writer of this editorial in that it's potentially dangerous because all of us will be defined by this documentary, arguably the biggest exposure the fandom has had in "mainstream" media. Is this bad, is this good?

¯\(°_o)/¯

Welp… I have nothing new to say, about the episode that just aired, just a few incredibly brief points. One of them is a short spoiler so tags.

…Oh, one more point before I forget, stuff was being advertised that was pony related. They had possible spoilers, but if not, they were still kinda confusing. I'll explain later, I'm too "Jetlagged" right now, so to speak.

Well, night all.

>Is given engineering homework assignment
>Told to sketch three things of my choice
>Seriously considers running out and buying a pony figure to sketch

No regrets

what to say about this ep.

it had a classical feel…i like it

den ouuda den

Hey, episode wasn't that bad today…though there were a few too suggestive things.

like what?

Done:

@Da dancing Gummy

Fun episode. By the way, Rainbow saying goodbye to Tank was very cute. And I don't say that often.

@Pre-Episode Rituals: I grab a soda and some kettle cooked sea salt and vinegar potato chips (at 10:30 in the morning) and watch the episode while making smart-alecky comments.

Sup…

Hey.

Corey Powell's 2 for 2 in my book so far. That was a great episode: call backs + cameos from previous episodes, the gags were good, Angel is best frenemy, and Sweetie Belle makes everything better.

Guys, guys, guys…..
Ponies in cardigans.

According to Scotland's National Tourism Organisation:
"Posing in their winter woollies, the ponies were marking the Year of Natural Scotland by sporting some rather plush knitwear"
Source
MFW:

Uhhh, I'm pretty sure the moral was about not prioritizing the reward over doing a good job. The fact that the animals forgave him and helped him avoid getting in trouble is incidental, he still got his comeuppance since he wound up with none of the gems he was saving.

BOOOIII!

After fruitless efforts and self-obliberation issues, I've been calmed down, so to talk about new ep.

First off, it was good. Fairly entertaining with a good story.

And thanks Scrooge for making me notice all those things

Third, Girl Scouts of Equestria (the girl Zecora donates to)? Why on earth aren't the CMC in that?

And lastly, in today's episode, we learned that white rabbits are spoiled bitches (no offense RandomMan)