My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (Live Reactions & Discussion)

Frankly, I'm just scratching my head as to how any of them but the Nightmare Moon future came about. Nightmare Moon predated all those other villains, and without the Mane 6, she would have won, so where is she in all the other futures? The Discord one even has Luna in it. How did that happen without the girls using the Elements on her?

This does a good job explaining it.

Nice comments section there. I can see realities where it would have to happen some other way.

The real question is what specifically from each of Twilight's trips back triggered one villain's victory over the others. Looking forward to fanfic of how Rainbow Dash eating popcorn that one time altered the fate of the entire world.

One kernel can change everything.

That comment Black Mage linked reminds me of that Doctor Who episode where the past is changed and the Doctor dies, and we see how all the threats to the earth since that point are defeated by other characters, but at a much higher cost. So Equestria is capable of stopping threats without the mane six, but there are so many that eventually one gets through. Twilight and her friends are uniquely positioned to combat all of them.

edited 28th Nov '15 11:25:02 PM by Crowfall

I suppose the butterfly effect?

Well, really, Starlight stopping the Sonic Rainboom was just a catalyst for each of the timelines to come. Each permutation didn't lead to another timeline; that's just how it went. You could still call it the butterfly effect, but for that to work, those events would have to be related somehow other than, "yea, the Mane 6 defeated them."

Yeah, I liked the implication that the Mane Six aren't the only way the villains could be defeated, but that a small change meant that one of them would have won.

Also, I thought that it was pretty clear from Starlight's first appearance that cutie marks caused her to lose friends, so her backstory fitted for me.

And like ponies, I don't believe that punishment is necessary when someone has learned their lesson, as I believe that prevention is the most important reason for punishment.

Well, I just saw the finale.

I think they handled the resolution poorly. Maybe they should have given the Heel–Face Turn a way bigger screentime budget. As it is, everything just felt abrupt.

I was half-expecting Apple Bloom to be used as a counterexample. You know, the time where Twist got her cutie mark first, and then they never hung out as often as they used to (if at all).

Back-to-back opinions.

I agree. Watching it again, I honestly don't feel like it's a false moment. It's quick, but understandable.

edited 29th Nov '15 3:13:25 AM by edvedd

I am a little sad that we'll probably be seeing more Starlight next season in some capacity, but we're unlikely to be seeing another formerly evil unicorn popping up from time to time. Nothing against Starlight, but I want more Sunset dang it.

Next season, Sunset Shimmer comes back as a pony. But she's also come back to the dark side.

Plot twist: it's just a changeling.

At this point, Sunset will probably remain an EQG thing.

She's a character that operates just outside continuity. Like, all her stuff could happen in the moments between seasons and episodes, but you can plausibly write it out and no one would notice. Pony Flash showing up occasionally is about as far as we've come in acknowledging that universe.

Okay, I saw it and I didn't really think that the redemption was that bad but I knew it was coming, so that probably helped somewhat. The rest of the episodes were great and my biggest complaint was that the alternate futures were TOO interesting and I wanted to see more of them (seriously, what was up with that last one?)

Minor headscratcher: If Flim and Flam were the only threat that wasn't stopped in their timeline and assuming that Celestia was still around, I can't imagine that she wouldn't be able to stop the industrialization.

edited 29th Nov '15 5:08:46 AM by LordVatek

Heck, even Moondancer and Twilight would be an example to show to Starlight. That one friend who left the other feeling alone and depressed, can still be redeemed and get that friendship back.

I was expecting the same, that Cutie Map moments would be put in as flashbacks across the season, and how the CMC with no marks at all resolving an enemy and making them their friend to get Marks of their own, proving that CM's don't have to ruin friendships. Might have hammered in the idea better.

Maybe if she would have stuck around to see Moondancer's resolution she wouldn't have done it.

The excuse is fine, but for my bits there wasn't any foreshadowing to this across her episodes where she could have had ample times to hint at specifically friendships setting her off, little tinges of crazy rather than the somewhat misleading equality for everypony thing she had.

She's got two two-parters, and it only gets used at the very end. Not helped that her reasoning was presented as mysterious and some great trauma that would justify all of this, when the results are somewhat off to scale, even by these kinds of standards.

Plus pacing aside, it might have just been repetitive enough to get to some viewers. When Sunset and Discord had variations of a similar problem, but had underlying reasons as to why friendship could help them when they've never known what it felt like before. Starlight did.

And most of all, neither SS or Discord were taken at face value, their friends were rightfully hesitant to mistrust them and took further Character Development to prove themselves as genuine. Jumping to a forgiveness song was just the final straw for me, when that last minute could have been used to give her some precious screentime motivation.

Or even that Sunburst himself could have met her and told her to the effect that just because they were friends once doesn't mean she can't make new ones or that they can't be again; telling her to move on.

Apologies for the Wall of Text.

Well, this should keep us busy well into the new year.

Nah, it's cool.

edited 29th Nov '15 5:50:20 AM by edvedd

1. Why does it need to be 'foreshadowed' that she lost a friend? Again, it's clear from the start (At least from her starting ranting) that she had something really bad happen that made her actually believe ponies simply cannot be friends. It's not like this came right out of nowhere, you knew there had to be some reason behind it, and the details of that reason really didn't matter to to much.

2. Regarding Sunset and Discord both taking longer to be forgiven, yes, it's almsot like each one is it's own unique case with their own unique circumstances behind them, with those details altering actions and feelings of those involved, rather then being all completely utterly and totally identical and yet leading to different results.

With Discord, they are dealing with a physical manifestation of chaos itself, who has more then proven to be extremely apt and deceit and trickery, but they know was the course of MASSIVE suffering for ponies in the past, and even once 'reformed' still acted like a jerk a lot of the time.

Sunset, years of her being a complete and total bitch to everyone. Spreading fear, hate, and just in general being a complete asshole to anyone and everyone, with not a single care about anyone else but herself, and made their lives miserable. (At least while locked up in the day-prison of hell that is High School anyway). That is a lot of baggage to overcome.

Starlight didn't have nearly that much baggage behind her.

Also, with regards to the 'myth-arc' so? That has never been the point of the show. It's never had any real 'myth-arcs' beyond a few interconnected episodes with a common element. The closest was Season 4, and even then it wasn't a major thing the was really needed for the climax. Yes it could have been done better, but why did it need to be, when it's not what the goal was in the first place? it's judging the show by a metric it simply isn't even trying to aim for.

On the last point: I guess if you're trying, go whole hog, y'know. Don't be half-hearted.

It is strange that Cutie Mark Magic was never actually used as a major point despite that being the theme for the toy line this year. Rainbow Power was the throughline for season 4, but it never felt like the theme this year played into anything.

Lighter topic: How did RD lose her wing in the war timeline?

Her wing was shot with shadow magic and got corrupted. They had to amputate, or it would spread to her heart and kill her.

That's the point they aren't really trying, it's not some major part of the story it's just a little something extra, a bit of more interconectedness with the episodes, but not ever meant to be some massive myth arc. it's like criticizing someone who painted a halfway decent landscape in the background of a shot focusing on some people just talking in a room about stuff, for not busting out the Mona Lisa.

it's like criticising them for not doing a good enough job on the background, not for not busting out a mona lisa.

iirc, the eastern portion of the map showed a lack of crystals there. Dash tried to do a sonic rainboom despite knowing it was just a myth, and succeeded. However, her body wasn't able to handle the stress put on her body, and her wing got destroyed in the process.

I like it!

An overarching story never been the most comfortable fit for the show, and they need to consider how to best use it going forward. So I kind of agree.

edited 29th Nov '15 6:33:02 AM by edvedd

It's hilarious that 'How did a character lose a limb' is the lighter topic in this case.

Is it weird that the events of the finale make me think of Bioshock Infinite? Then again, it's only got time travel and parallel universes in common, but not much else.

"Bring us the cutie marks, and wipe away the debt."