My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Comics

If the deer wants to be someone's pet, who are we to stop them?

(Some of the deer equivalents of alicorns have actually already turned up in my fanfics)

Maybe it's like Narnia where intelligent and non-intelligent animals exist in the same world.

Or maybe it's just something a storyboard artist or animator threw in that can be easily retconned later.

Maybe it's like Narnia where intelligent and non-intelligent animals exist in the same world.

Technically, this is already the case in the strictly-show canon: Winona, who is smart but still clearly a 'pure' animal and pet, and the Diamond Dogs, who are dumb but still clearly sapient and non-pets, exist in the same world.

Except they are so different, they likely aren't he same species, but the Diamond Dogs are a canine based race

It's like saying it's in effect for Earth because humans can talk, but Gorilla's can't.

I guess so, but it's not quite as big as difference as the one between Pluto and Goofy. The narrative still identifies them as 'dogs that happen to talk and reason' rather than 'doglike humanoids' for the most part. Perhaps 'Neanderthals compared to humans' would be a closer comparison than gorillas.

No, pretty huge difference between the two, far more then that. While they are clearly canine, the DD's really are nothing like a regular dog beyond some basic features.

really is more like Pluto and Goofy, except the two here are expressly separate species.

I agree that the latest arc feels a bit oddball. While it does have the look of an environmentalist thing, I'm willing to see the whole arc first before I judge. Part this is that I think it's not entirely clear that Twilight's black and white pursuit of the 'right' thing is actually the right thing to do. Like, the deer leader calls her out on it, coldly questioning if she's really willing to trash bin all the hard work of the construction company. I also find it interesting that the deer are actually kind of less than sympathetic. They can't grow plants to fight back on the demolished land, so their response is to throw a temper tantrum and start destroying unrelated parties' towns. At this point, I can't really find myself siding with either based on the arguments presented by the characters. I think that if I had to choose one, I'd take the logical route and favour the deer simply because the construction company is trespassing.

Aside from that, I do find the deer a bit weird, what with the lore of the forest being that it's a sort of untamed by civilization thing. I also find it weird that they didn't step in when Discord's shenanigans were causing the black vines and vine creatures to mess around with the Everfree to the point that it nearly destroyed the most important tree in the forest. So mixed reactions there. Also, the construction company is stupid. They're smart enough to realize kissing up to a princess is a good idea, but then is dumb enough to throw her out on her ass when she disagrees. They're just asking to get shut down at that point.

This is the same team who wrote a Twilight that wouldn't retaliate against actual criminals until they story had run long enough, so who the hell knows.

Princess Mononoke, this probably ain't gonna be, but I remain... well, lukewarmly optimistic.

Just found time to sit and read this thing....

For buck's sake. Bad enough that it starts out as a "Princess Twilight Sparkle" retread, but then these deer vines wrap up the Princesses as easily as the plunder vines did, despite ample forewarning, for the sake of keeping them from helping and a quick gag?

Aside from that, I don't have a problem with it. Interesting worldbuilding, the Deer King was at least willing to hear them out, and looking forward to the inevitable compromise. Only one more issue means it can't get too heavy for too long.

Some good points here.

Well, it's Silver Quill "Some good points here" is a given.

Yup. That guy seems to agree with me quite a bit.

This isn't necessarily a flaw, but Cook simply can't seem to take her own stories seriously for very long. She'd be amazing on something like Animaniacs (if it were still running), but not on a tie-in comic for a show that tends to be praised for its sincerity and lack of irony.

Is there an equivalent of a "sending the Flying Brick on a space mission" that could have been done instead of Twilight not being able to use magic on ponies? I didn't read the story, but I've read stuff here on TV Tropes about it.

Nitpick: she said she can't use it on citizens of Equestria. If it was only ponies as the law, then there would be questions. But it also would've eliminated the thing holding her back from restraining the buffalo.

Anyway, as for you question: probably. I mean, there's a lot of stuff going on in Equestria that could have distracted Twi and it's not like the main six haven't traveled alone or in pairs before. Really, though, they probably could've solved most issues by making the buffalo more devious (which they already had shades of with trying to legally acquire the ranch). If the buffalo hadn't run around being openly violent and flaunting their ability to hurt people without consequence, instead using the law as a shield for themselves, it probably would've lent a lot more credence to Twi's hesitation to disable and arrest them.

As is, the buffalo are just a bunch of brutes who gain way more traction than they should have. Like, the real life equivalent would be a gang of thugs wandering into a mall, brandishing knives and demanding everyone pay tribute in the form of goods. Then doing it again every week for months.

Yeah, didn't read the story. And Twilight has used her magic on her friends and other Equestria citizens. So the "rule" is just contradictory. That's why we have Deus Exit Machina. And there are good and bad ways of doing it!

The context of this is for combat, though. With her friends, she wasn't fighting them. Other citizens that I can recall off the top of my head like (maybe) the pirates, they were making overt threats. That's why I think more cunning buffalo would fix things. As is, the buffalo are very overt about what they're doing, which should rightfully get them arrested. Now if they were doing things behind everyone's backs and otherwise appeared legit, despite suspicions, I could see Twi being bound to finding additional evidence before she could actually fight them.

So the comics have pretty much been confirmed to be non-canon. On one hand, it's a damn shame to see good stories like Nightmare Rarity being swept under the rug. On the other hand, garbage like Reflections and Cattle Rustlers technically never happened either, so there's a plus.

http://www.equestriadaily.com/2015/02/comics-and-show-to-remain-separate-canon.html

edited 17th Feb '15 4:28:47 PM by marston

Aren't they basically the same level of canon we always figured they were, i.e. the show just ignores them but they're written off to the side of the show so it doesn't really matter? Honestly I would have preferred it if they had dumped Nightmare Rarity altogether, just because the whole separate Nightmare entities thing (as nebulous as it was), as opposed to some sort of non-sentient corruption, feels a little cheap. As it is it doesn't contradict anything Hasbro has in mind.

Except Lauren Faust stated from the start, she always figured that is was some outside, malevolent force that helped corrupt Luna into Nightmare Moon. So it fits right in with how it was always intended. If they could have just done it with the comedy relief goofiness from the non-Nightmarity forces.

It's basically the same deal as with The Batman Adventures, although the few specials written and drawn by show creators Dini and Timm were canonical exceptions. I still will say I'd like to see a few select stories from the comics being adapted as episodes or direct-to-video specials, though.

Like I said, some sort of corrupting force, just not straight-up Grand Theft Me.

Actually, the impression I got from Luna's talk about "nightmare energy" was a split down the middle.Say, there was originally this Nightmare Energy, willful but not quite sentient, ala the dark side of the Force, or the Orichalcos. It was able to naturally corrupt "lesser" life forms like the lunar wildlife, forming the Nightmare Forces we know. These manifestations could then communicate with and corrupt more complex creatures like ponies, but in order to maintain a hold over these hosts the power needed to create a mental shell, i.e. Nightmare Moon, the Yami Marik to Luna and Rarity's Marik. Some shared awareness survives even in the energy's dormant state, which was why Nightmare Rarity expressed remembrance of fighting the others before despite apparently being newly formed around Rarity's own psyche.

tl;dr Nightmare Thingummy was a separate entity who is now as dead as Sombra, not redeemed, but she wasn't a preexisting life form so it's all right.

But a Drunk on the Dark Side Luna would have been so much simpler....

I don't think Luna was possessed. The probable reason as to why Rarity was is that the Nightmare Forces both see her as somewhat of an equal and is also probably too powerful to be outright possessed, whereas this is not the case with Rarity.

Meh, I always viewed it like how Star Wars used to handle canon. Movies/Show override the rest of the Expanded Universe. Would be nice to see Tibbles make a cameo in one episode, though.

Anyways, Main Issue #30 and Friends Forever #16 have been revealed. The first one sounds kinda meh, but Diamond Tiara & Silver Spoon issue! Will they learn a valuable life lesson? Probably not, but I expect hilarity to ensue.

Not looking forward to either.The main issue sounds boring and the FF issue seems like it will be unpleasant.

Yeah, what Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon desperately need is some actual growth forward already, and a comic tie-in just can't do that; that's the show's duty to pull off.