My Little Pony |OT| An adventure that never will end

Sylvee · Feb 17, 2018

Virtua Sanus said:

It's ok, we all have to cope with AJ's unpopularity at some point.

Although I think AJ is way more popular in Japan then she is here so I feel like if anyone got left out it wouldn't be her.

SigmasonicX · Feb 18, 2018

Strider_Blaze said:
Still haven't seen the special yet, but I really gotta comment on the Kotobukiya news! They make amazing-looking figures! I haven't purchased any myself (they are pretty expensive), but they are a site to behold!

Some of the best-looking ones I have seen include Chun-Li (SFV Battle Costume), Sakura Kasugano, and X-23 among others.

I will definitely look forward to what they come up with in regards to EQG. That will just expand my wishlist of figures I want to grab one of these days.

That reminds me, there was a thread about the Hasbro team up, wasn't there?
*checks*
Hmm, must have been on GAF. Well, I won't bother.

UberTag said:
Quick thought... but is there any chance that they keep Equestria Girls running post-Season 9 of Friendship is Magic and beyond while G5 is underway?

Has me thinking we might wind up seeing little return visits to G4 Equestria ponies for nostalgia's sake via Dougworld after the new gen has already taken shape.
Would also give them the opportunity of doing a multi-gen crossover at some point even with Gen4 technically over.

They could do their own take on the Dr. Who crossovers along these lines that have happened.
Have the G4 and G5 ponies team up to take on a villain in the G3 Ponyverse. The meta commentary and reference gags would write themselves.

I have no doubt that Equestria Girls will still be a thing in G5, since it's an established toyline that does very well to my knowledge. I don't think it will be the same continuity, though, since they'd probably want the same cast as in G5. Plus, they'll have a chance to discard the convoluted backstory.

Crossovers with G4 seem likely, at least in comic form.

And sorry to disappoint you, but there are no G3 villains. Other than cliffs and waterfalls.

Sylvee said:

Hey, I didn't actually like that art!

Sylvee said:
Starlight and Trixie's relationship works so well because it goes beyond just being a eccentric + strait man routine. Trixie is fairly similar in both pairings, but Starlight has a lot of layers in the relationship that Sunset doesn't really have. Sunset with Trixie behaves similarly to how she behaves with pretty much every other character in the show. She's the responsible everyman. Starlight with Trixie is put in the awkward situation where she has to act like the responsible one of the two when usually she's usually the one causing the problems that others have to help clean up. And in addition to that Trixie is the first real "friend" that Starlight made post-reformation. The Mane 6 are probably her friends too but they're kinda obligated to be friends given what happened. In To Where and Back Again it's shown that Starlight greatly benefits from the emotional support that Trixie provides whereas with Sunset it just feels like another friend for her.

That and I feel like Sunset pairing with Trixie just feels like copying the relationship that Starlight and Trixie had so it's going to automatically feel worse.

The way Trixie acts around Starlight is pretty different. She's much more at ease with her, while with Sunset, she's still playing up her stage persona a lot.

Though I feel like it's wrong to talk down the Trixie and Sunset interactions because of how it compares to Trixie with Starlight. Sunset was alright as a straight man to Trixie.

Sylvee said:
Yeah, I do feel like this is the most depth we've gotten from her so far, but it feels like it was previously a puddle and now it's a kiddie pool. It's better but it's still not at the level I think it should be at. I mentioned it a bit in Discord but I feel like the main conflict and moral were not super well-done in the story. Wallflower hints that she had already been using the memory stone to erase unpleasant encounters for her, but given how she described it and the fact that no one can remember her at all it makes it look like she might have basically wiped all of her personal interactions from everyone's memories which is why no one knows she exists. I feel like it would have been a more interesting story if the lesson was that Wallflower had to accept that sometimes she's not going to end up looking good to people and say/do bad things, but that most people can look past that and that if you're afraid of what everyone will think of you then you'll never end up doing anything. Given that Sunset had left a bad impression on people and had people's opinions on her change she would have been a good candidate to give that speech.

Yeah, I wish they explored the idea that Wallflower was erasing bad encounters more, at least showing it in action. Maybe they could show one of her memories from the time between EQG1 and Rainbow Rocks, where Sunset snapped at her, but then Wallflower erased that from her mind. Wallflower could still have a grudge about that, but Sunset wouldn't realize she did that until reading her mind. That could tie into a thing about not forgetting bad things, but rather learning from them.

Sylvee said:
Also this really should have been linked like 5 hours ago:

Rarity's teaching outfit is also 10/10

Haha, oh wow @ ending on bedroom eyes Twilight.
Most of the clips are from things known from leaks, so I can't really give meaningful impressions.

Sylvee said:

Sciz said:
This was everything I ever wanted EG to be.

These posts right after each other give a different meaning to Sciz's post.

Sylvee said:
Although I think AJ is way more popular in Japan then she is here so I feel like if anyone got left out it wouldn't be her.

I haven't heard anything about her being notably more popular there.

==

News dump

Next EQG CYOA is up

If no one else is going to do it, I'll make a GIF of Rarity dancing in her seat later.

Better look at Cutie Mark Crew chibi toys
Blindbags and figures
Equestria Girls Minis and dolls

The new packaging art is cute. It's a shame there isn't a better shot of that Fluttershy art.

Equestria%2BGirls%2BMy%2BLittle%2BPony%2BBooth%2BToy%2BFair%2B2018%2B2.jpg

Brushables
There will be a "silly looks" lineup.

Brushables%2BMy%2BLittle%2BPony%2BBooth%2BToy%2BFair%2B2018%2B25%2B%252814%2529.jpg

Plushies
Random merch

EPISODE ANNOUNCEMENT
And we have a new announcement: the very first holiday TV special (and first non-EQG special), "Best Gift Ever"!
* The girls decide to do a gift exchange for Hearth's Warming and panic trying to find the perfect gifts, searching all throughout Equestria, but in the end learn that friendship is the best gift.
* Discord is involved, wearing an outfit from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
* Cadance, Shining Armor, and Flurry appear too.

Unclear if it's half an hour or a full hour.

Some assets from this were part of the big leak a few months ago too.

Nali · Feb 18, 2018

SigmasonicX said:
These posts right after each other give a different meaning to Sciz's post.

That scene is what I expect the humans think Equestria is like.

Sylvee · Feb 18, 2018

SigmasonicX said:
And sorry to disappoint you, but there are no G3 villains. Other than cliffs and waterfalls.

What about princess Rarity? (I don't actually know)

SigmasonicX said:
Haha, oh wow @ ending on bedroom eyes Twilight.

I'll take it over stock vectors

SigmasonicX said:
I haven't heard anything about her being notably more popular there.

I did a quick search of "Applejack Japan" in the MLP reddit and here's the big things I came up with:

> "In Japanese fandom of MLP:FiM, Applejack is a breakout character that has a whole subculture dedicated to her. This is because many in Japan romanticize cowboys/cowgirls."
https://www.reddit.com/r/mylittlepony/comments/4dt03l/fun_facts_you_likely_dont_know_about_mlpfim/

> "Japan loves the western "mythos" of cowboys and frontier's men. Many countries do when it comes to American culture actually.

Think about it like this. Japan gave the world Samarai and Ninjas for the rest of the world to think are cool, badass legends in an era of pure adventure. We see exaggerated and over the top portrayal of heroics from these unbeatable swordsmen.

America gave the world cowboys. They have their own legends, it's heroes, some myth, some true. Often stylized, or exaggerated for the sake of good story telling.

The lone gunslinger hero of the west can be compared to the honorable ronin.

Japan thinks cowboys are cool for that. They often put cowboy or western archetypes in their own media.

"...see you space cowboy~"
https://www.reddit.com/r/mylittlepo..._applejack_so_popular_in_the_japanese_fandom/

> "
In the one-week survey, 303 ballots were cast. The survey started with the Mane 6, but write-ins were encouraged. One vote was allowed per participant.

Results were:

Twilight Sparkle - 45
Applejack - 44
Fluttershy - 40
Rainbow Dash - 37
Pinkie Pie - 33
Rarity - 32
Princess Luna - 27
Big Mac - 13
Derpy - 4
Sweetie Belle - 4"

https://www.reddit.com/r/mylittlepony/comments/s2ef3/popular_japan_pony_blog_posts_results_of/

I've read it a couple other places too that AJ is substantially more popular in Japan then she is here as well but I don't remember where.

Sciz said:
That scene is what I expect the humans think Equestria is like.

Even humans know Applejack is shit

SigmasonicX · Feb 18, 2018

I still can't get over the fact that they took Spike's "Luna Eclipsed" costume and edited out Spike.

Those Applejack facts seem really unreliable.

"Driving Miss Shimmer" has been on YouTube officially for a day, after the Discovery Family upload two months ago, and still no one did this, so I had to go ahead and make GIFs of these very important moments myself. 1, 2

Also from there
Sunset looking high as a kite during the choose your own adventure part
The Fluttershy option image is super cute

I realized that since I'm showing "Forgotten Friendship" in tomorrow's stream, I might as well combine the episode followup with the stream followup. Speaking of which, I'll unload my backlog now.

Videos
Nice remix of classic fan song.
assertive fluttershy - boo hoo (mikuma's festival remix) - YouTube

Fun cover
Raise this Barn (Metal cover by Elias Frost) [Finnish] - YouTube

Good original orchestral piece
Silver Light - YouTube

Art
1.Time Loop Trilogy cover by FoxInShadow on DeviantArt - Art for the fanfic Hard Reset and its sequels. Twilight and changelings.
2.Seaponies!!! by PhoenixPeregrine on DeviantArt - Mane Six, Spike, and Skystar
3.Rare Lantern by art-of-aa on DeviantArt - Rarity Green Lantern

1.Chinese New Year 2018 by selinmarsou on DeviantArt - Twilight and Spike
2.My Favorite Gays by WanderingPegasus on DeviantArt - Pinkie x Rainbow
3.Mistmane -Profile- by The-Butcher-X on DeviantArt

1.Memories of the past by Amy-Gamy on DeviantArt - Applejack
2.Apple Bloom and Winona by JumbleHorse
3.Heh Heh... Fat Robots — Februpony days 3 and 4 Fav background pony... - Twilight and Starlight. Link also has Derpy image.

1.Pinkie Pie by thegreatrouge on DeviantArt
2.Starlight X Sunburst: New hair style by zouyugi on DeviantArt

Comic
Rainbow Fash by FrenkieArt on DeviantArt

UberTag · Feb 18, 2018

Sylvee said:
What about princess Rarity? (I don't actually know)

I've seen very few villains in 7+ seasons of G4 and all of Equestria Girls that can match the Chaotic Neutral carnage wreaked upon her fellow ponies than that provided by G3 Princess Rarity. The only ones that come close are probably Tirek... or Juniper Montage.

Although that actually makes my crossover idea work even better. Throw the G4 and G5 ponies into the G3-verse against an ACTUAL villain and marvel at the hilarity as they interact with both each other and an oblivious pony cast of G3 ponies who only know sunshine and lollipops where the greatest calamity ever is getting lost.

Sylvee said:
In the one-week survey, 303 ballots were cast. The survey started with the Mane 6, but write-ins were encouraged. One vote was allowed per participant.

Results were:

Twilight Sparkle - 45

Applejack - 44

Fluttershy - 40

Rainbow Dash - 37

Pinkie Pie - 33

Rarity - 32

Princess Luna - 27

Big Mac - 13

Derpy - 4

Sweetie Belle - 4"

https://www.reddit.com/r/mylittlepony/comments/s2ef3/popular_japan_pony_blog_posts_results_of/

Rarity's established greatness is probably a tough sell in other languages where Tabitha's unbridled enthusiasm isn't there to shine through and carry the performance. That said, I appreciate the Sweetie Belle write-in votes. This survey pre-dates Starlight Glimmer, right?

Sylvee · Feb 18, 2018

SigmasonicX said:
Those Applejack facts seem really unreliable.

There's also an EQD interview with a member of the Japanese fandom here who also claims that AJ is really popular there: https://www.equestriadaily.com/2015/02/how-is-pony-doing-in-japan-how-does.html

And I also found this poll:

1st place Larity

(157 votes / 22.4%)

2nd place Apple Jack

(137 votes / 19.5%)

3rd place Flutter shy

(107 votes / 15.2%)

4th place Pinky pie

(104 votes / 14.8%)

5 place Twilight Sparkle

(103 votes / 14.7%)

6th Rainbow Dash

(94 votes / 13.4%)

Google translate is fun: "The most popular one among them was "Larry" I looked at! A beautiful figure of Larity! ! !"

http://ppgcom.blog12.fc2.com/blog-entry-7079.html

Larry's my favorite pony too.

UberTag said:
Rarity's established greatness is probably a tough sell in other languages where Tabitha's unbridled enthusiasm isn't there to shine through and carry the performance. That said, I appreciate the Sweetie Belle write-in votes. This survey pre-dates Starlight Glimmer, right?

The first poll was in 2012 so probably after the 1st or maybe second season. The one I just linked is from 2013 so it's likely a season later from whenever the first one was done. If I had to guess the first was post season one, and the second was post season 2 given that Rarity massively shot up in the results and I feel like she had a really good showing in season 2.

This picture reminds me of another picture....

SigmasonicX · Feb 19, 2018

I still don't think those give a good sense of how the Japanese fandom views the characters overall.

First, stream followup.
1. EQG short - My Past is Not Today
2. EQG special - Forgotten Friendship
3. EQG short - Friendship Through the Ages
4. Tangled - What the Hair?! (101) - Rapunzel and Cassandra visit Tumblr's favorite character, the alchemist Varian, to figure out what's going on with Rapunzel's hair.
5. Tangled - Fitzherbert P.I. (103) - Eugene (Flynn) decides to train to be a royal guard, and Rapunzel prepares for her royal portrait.

It went well enough; I think it will work to show episodes the day after they air. Of course, I fully expect less popular episodes to have people skip. "My Past is Not Today" is growing on me, but still not a huge fan. "Forgotten Friendship" is below. "Friendship Through the Ages" is still great until Pinkie Pie stops the song.

We started Tangled as a series proper (we watched the pilot movie before), and these early episodes were weaker than I remembered. That said, episode 3, which I had recommended to skip in this thread but had second thoughts on, was better than I remembered, but the scene I liked that made me include the episode in the stream, where Eugene takes a break from guard duty to flirt with Rapunzel, was way shorter than I remembered. Reactions were lukewarm. I almost hate to say it, but the series does get better later.

And here are the YouTube videos in the stream.
1.[MLP] Light Em Up-Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle(Pmv) - YouTube
2.MLP: Equestria Girls - Rainbow Rocks - 'My Past is Not Today' Official Music Video - YouTube
3.MLP: Equestria Girls - Rainbow Rocks - "Friendship Through the Ages" Music Video - YouTube
4.Sunset Shimmer: Bet On It - YouTube
5.[Collab] Just Like Fire Light 'em Up [PMV] - YouTube
6.[MLP Comic Dub] Love Between Eggheads - YouTube

By nature, Sunset won't have many "classic" videos, which made finding videos a bit more difficult. Or rather, I decided "screw it" and just searched for random videos; made more difficult by my complete lack of knowledge of popular songs. Turned out alright, I think. The super flashy PMVs are growing on me. For the record, 1 and 5 are completely different songs.

"Forgotten Friendship" followup!

NOTES
Rewatching the story, my opinion largely remains the same. To be clear, despite appearing negative at times, I liked it.

Everyone thinking Sunset photoshopped the images on her phone was reasonable enough, but what about all the other pictures and physical evidence? Would they have thought Sunset broke in and changed everything? Also, she's still in charge of the yearbook; they didn't think anything was odd about that?

Clover the Clever really isn't clever, especially with him including instructions with the memory stone. Twilight really needs better heroes. Also, it's kind of odd that when Twilight asked if Sunset knew him, she didn't bring up Hearth's Warming. You'd think that's what he's best known for.

While I liked that Sunset used her powers at the moments you'd want her to, there's still the fact that she didn't use it on Trixie or any of the people they were investigating. She only reads minds when it's convenient. Come to think of it, the "Overpowered" short established if the girls use their powers a lot, they become much stronger, and Sunset reads the minds of everyone around her. She could have used that to make things go more quickly.

I noticed before (but didn't mention) that Sunset is actually depicted turning on the drone camera before the confrontation with Wallflower, but I hadn't noticed you can clearly see the on-light lit on the drone.

I think Sylvee only brought this up in the Discord chat, but I agree with him that it would have been interesting if Sunset didn't regain her memory and had to struggle with starting over. Of course, there's no way they would have done something that would require several stories like that.

If you're wondering, thanks to the toys, we know the power up at the end is called Friendship Power. The new outfits are still fantastic, BTW.

Some tweets from the writer.

I wasn't a fan of the songs, but it will be nice to get an uninterrupted version of Wallflower's.

Wallflower not turning into a big monster was a deliberate choice. They still turn into magical girl forms to resolve the problem, so not actually that big of an effective change, I feel, but still.

And finally,

Why does Canterlot have so many cannibals?!

SCREENCAPS
I'll try out the fan art format for this and GIFs too.

Despite the focus characters, screencap of the day goes to Rarity being fabulous.
Rarity Friendship Power

1.Jotaro Twilight
2.Peace sign Twilight
3.Book freakout Twilight

1.Edit - Sunset vs. Trixie
2.Sunset posing
3.Bulk Biceps yearbook picture

1.Pony Twi used for sleeping SciTwi - This is Pony Twi as depicted in Rainbow Rocks. SciTwi has different pajamas and still has her hair curl at the sides even when it's down.
2.Rarity blowing a kiss to the drone
3.Pinkie doesn't make this face

1.Twilight Friendship Power - This is apparently a Sailor Mercury pose, BTW.
2.Sunset Friendship Power
3.Rainbow Dash Friendship Power

1.Fluttershy Friendship Power
2.Pinkie Friendship Power
3.Applejack Friendship Power - Rarity is above

1.Face cutie marks to match the toys
2.Trixie's poster
3.Sunset thinking of the next day's beach trip

GIFS
Still using small images for these to reduce load.

GIF of the episode goes to
Trixie and Sunset swapping

1.Rainbow scrambling to hit the volleyball
2.Pony Twilight flailing, looks kind of Movie like - I think this is largely because of the CGI case and the shadows on the books.
3.Pony Twilight hugging secret books

1.Pony Twilight smiling wide
2.Pony Twilight nervous laugh
3.Celestia and Sunset hugging

1.Rainbow opening and closing the yearbook
2.Friendship Power transformation sequence
3.Sunset slipping off her slippers

FAN CONTENT
As far as I can tell, no remixes yet.
For fan art, for those who haven't seen an episode roundup before, I lower my art standards a bit, so some stuff will look rougher than usual.

Swimsuits
Some older art I missed before is here too. Probably not the section you want to look at at work, but it shouldn't be NSFW per say.

1.Summer Beach Equestria girls by MinusClass on DeviantArt
2.Applejack swimsuit by ponut_joe
3.Pinkie Pie swimsuit by ponut_joe

1.Rainbow Dash swimsuit by ponut_joe
2.Twilight swimsuit by ponut_joe
3.Sunset Shimmer pin-up by ambris

Friendship Power outfits
1.Fluttershy by nin10ja on DeviantArt
2.Twilight and Sunset Friendship Power by nin10ja
3.Power Sunset by BefishProductions on DeviantArt

Wallflower Blush
There was a black and white picture of Wallflower in the novelization from a couple of months ago, which is why some of the art depicts her with different colors. I have to say, Wallflower is getting a lot more love than I expected, especially in comparison to Juniper Montage.

1.Wallflower and her flower-friend, Fred by CrazyPlantMae on DeviantArt - Crossover with Plants vs. Zombies
2.Wallflower Blush [Pony Form] by Suramii on DeviantArt
3.Nobody by EMositeCC on DeviantArt

1.Flower Hidden in Garden Walls ~ Forgotten Flowers by Fantasygerard2000 on DeviantArt
2.Wallflower Blush is cute by Viejillox64Art on DeviantArt
3.Wallflower by JumbleHorse

1.She's basically Tomoko by reiduran
2.SPOILER Wallflower by Fantasygerard2000 on DeviantArt
3.Wallflower by zippysqrl

1.Sweets — Well Seymour, i made it! - Little Shop of Horrors crossover
2.Wallflower Blush by odiiette on DeviantArt
3..:Wallflower Blush:. by The-Butcher-X on DeviantArt

Other
1.Artiks Family Friendly Pone Fiesta — the climax of the special
2.Celestia and Sunset by Heir of Rick
3.Trixie is stealing all your reformed unicorn waifus by dstears

Comic
True Purpose by uotapo - The comic isn't in English yet, but it's easy to understand what's going on.

Virtua Sanus · Feb 19, 2018

Roughly around 1,000 votes is not a super fantastic judgement for how popular the characters are in a region, but I have long got the impression that Applejack is one of the more popular characters in Japan just from the amount of art I see of her from there.

But who cares, Rainbow is in last place and that is enough for me to celebrate.

Bricks · Feb 19, 2018

The previous page reminded that I even wasted time reading Injuring Eternity

Anyway, I actually really like Invisible. As always, the lyrics aren't really anything to write home about, but I don't think that's that important. I just really like how it sounds, Shannon's vocals, the accompaniment... you can hear it wasn't Daniel's usual work, as much as I appreciate it. I'm glad a full version is coming.

Sylvee · Feb 19, 2018

SigmasonicX said:
We started Tangled as a series proper (we watched the pilot movie before), and these early episodes were weaker than I remembered. That said, episode 3, which I had recommended to skip in this thread but had second thoughts on, was better than I remembered, but the scene I liked that made me include the episode in the stream, where Eugene takes a break from guard duty to flirt with Rapunzel, was way shorter than I remembered. Reactions were lukewarm. I almost hate to say it, but the series does get better later.

Probably belongs in the actual Tangled thread but I feel like the biggest problems I have so far is that most of the central conflicts to the episodes feel tacked on and over-the-top, as well as all of the unnecessary comic relief characters they keep throwing in. The first episode in particular has a bunch of massive boilers that one kid made himself randomly start failing the second that one of the main characters finds out about them which leads to some scenes at the climax where they have to escape a blowing up building and dodging a ton of falling debris as untold amounts of property damage is caused. The kid that caused all of the explosions might suffer some consequences later but in the episode all that's implied is that his dad is going to give him a stern talking to. It felt unnecessary and the gravity of the situation wasn't reflected in the actual tone of the show. And it feels like the show keeps throwing in these characters that serve absolutely no purpose other then to make gags. In the 3rd episode they have some impostor show up so Eugene can notice him and have a chase scene so he can show that he is useful to the captain of the guard. I feel like that could have been accomplished without the really bland chase scene and in a more personal way.

Also I feel like the relationship between Eugene and Cassandra is half-assed. It's really obvious that they don't like each-other, but it only really manifests in witty banter between the two and there isn't really any major reasons given as to why they're constantly at the other's throat. I get that he's a rascal and she's from a more formal upbringing, but I feel like they don't really go into enough detail to show why they're constantly berating each other. Compare it to Twilight and Trixie. They have a long history full of reasons they don't like each other. Trixie doesn't like that Twilight is way better then her at magic and upstaged her back in the day, and so she's still trying to one-up her. Twilight seems to be be much more reluctant to forgive Trixie for everything she's done and is still suspect of her, and she obviously doesn't really like that she's constantly trying to mess with her. If there were an episode where Trixie and Twilight set aside their differences and worked together it would feel like a pretty big deal for both characters. When Cassandra and Eugene worked together in the 3rd episode it was just like "oh that's cool" and then 5 seconds later they undercut it by having Cassandra get removed from the action scene so Eugene can look good.

SigmasonicX said:
Twilight really needs better heroes.

What's wrong with Celestia?

SigmasonicX said:
She only reads minds when it's convenient.

Pretty much all of the magical powers are plot devices at this point, for the most part being ignored up until the point where the episode needs them to exist. Case in point Movie Magic, where all of the characters conveniently forgot to bring their medallions outside of the two that were actually useful to the plot. Stuff like Rainbow's speed seems useful until you remember that she mainly participates in sports and no one in their right mind would let her use it. And Sunset probably won't be ever wanting to read minds unless one of her close friends is lying to her or she needs to find out the evil plans of the villain. I don't feel like the new powers were thrown in with a ton of thought and now the writers have to figure out how to work them in.

Virtua Sanus said:
But who cares, Rainbow is in last place and that is enough for me to celebrate.

Conkersbadfurday · Feb 19, 2018

Saw Forgotten Friendship. I doubt I have much to add on the matter though. It starts good, the jokes land really well, but it ends in a pretty hohum mundane fashion with a few contrivances along the way.

It is one of the better EQG stories, I think in part because it doesn't completely rely on dumb high school tropes. There's no homecoming dance vote, no battle of the bands, no school competition. It's a story where someone is magiced and she has to fix that shit. The yearbook thing is really in the background and not the focus.

I enjoyed the Sunset/Trixie stuff, though as someone pointed out, the dynamic isn't as good as Trixie/Starlight.

And yeah. That's about it.

SigmasonicX · Feb 20, 2018

Sylvee said:
Probably belongs in the actual Tangled thread

Other Community/Hangouts threads go off topic all the time, so it's fine. It's mainly just the choice of episodes so far that contrive a new conflict for the climax. Several episodes have action setpieces at the end, of course, but it isn't particularly common for the show to have one out of nowhere. About the comic relief characters, a big part of that is just from carrying over the characters from the movie. They only use certain subsets at a time, though, and they definitely dial back on that later. As for Eugene and Cassandra, he was a prolific thief until just recently, and he comes off as a lazy slob a lot of the time. More importantly though, Cassandra is in love with Rapunzel and is jealous of Eugene. Or at least that's what Tumblr tells me.

OK, since no one else has posted about it, settling on the season 7 episode guide:
1. Celestial Advice
2. All Bottled Up
3. A Flurry of Emotions
4. Rock Solid Friendship
5. Fluttershy Leans In
6. Forever Filly
7. Parental Glideance
8. Hard to Say Anything
9. Honest Apple
10. A Royal Problem
11. Not Asking for Trouble
12. Discordant Harmony
13. The Perfect Pear
14. Fame and Misfortune
15. Triple Threat
16. Campfire Tales
17. To Change a Changeling
18. Daring Done
19. It Isn't the Mane Thing About You
20. A Health of Information
21. Marks and Recreation
22. Once Upon a Zeppelin
23. Secrets and Pies
24. Uncommon Bond
25-26. Shadow Play

==

Reading fanfics.

First is a story posted on Equestria Daily a while ago, Clover Honey, about why Starswirl wasn't in the story of Hearth's Warming. It's written well enough, and at first appeared to go in an interesting direction explaining Starswirl and Clover's relationship--albeit one contradicted by "Forgotten Friendship" revealing he was male and also pretty irresponsible with magic objects--but then doesn't cover it in as much detail as I would have liked.

Starswirl first says something that I thought implied that while the ponies left to find a new home, he stayed behind to fight the Windigos. You could see how I would interpret this that way, right?

As much as Twilight wanted to do a little dance at the thought of learning more of the hidden truth of the world, Starswirl's sour demeanor stopped her. "Then...why weren't you there for the first Hearth's Warming?" she asked.

"Because I'm a fool!" He stomped hard enough to shake the stone. "A blind, pompous, ignorant fool!" He spun to face her. "The disaster that brought Ponydom to the brink of extinction, and I abandoned my student to face it alone due to my own monumental stupidity!"

However, instead what's revealed is that he traveled forward in time "several centuries" and couldn't get back. There he found Celestia and Luna already as princesses, and things continued on. This didn't really make sense to me, given what we know about his relationship with Celestia and Luna, but moreover, it felt like an unnecessarily complicated solution for this problem, which took me out of the story.

Then there's the title and Starswirl being made mopey by the mention of honey. After explaining the above, it's just mentioned that Clover liked honey. Basically, this story needed more showing and not telling.

I did like the idea brought up that the cave the Tree of Harmony is in is in fact the cave from the Hearth's Warming story, and Starswirl used it for just that reason.

I came across In Hindsight a while ago, but I don't quite remember how. I believe Aragon, the writer, was featured in an Equestria Daily interview and then I noticed he had a RariTwi story. It's since been recommended by Sciz. It was good. In the story, Rarity insists to Twilight that despite Rainbow and Applejack staring at her hips, those two are actually in love. Twilight doesn't believe this, so they start spying on the two. Things go from there. I liked the cloud gags. I suppose there really isn't much you can say about a well written farce story.

I then read Why She Looks So Good, which I guess isn't really a sequel to it despite the Rarity focus and continuing RariTwi from that story, and then Petty Please, which is a sequel. I liked the story of the former, with Rarity saving the world from a threat I wanted to see in the show, but they hammered in the point that Rarity is smart even though she's pretty way too hard. The latter was cute, though the part with Shining Armor was kind of weird, and a stretch.

Seriously, Blueblood courting Twilight while Rarity tries to stop him is something I've wanted ever since she became a princess.

And finally, after much prodding, I finally began Long Road to Friendship, a Sunset reformation story started before Rainbow Rocks that involves Dougworld Twilight. I read through chapter 10. Chapter 5, Artemus Lulamoon seems alright. Taking into account a section posted in the chat earlier, it occurs to me that this sort of character only really works in a setting where parents have authority over the main characters, so he can act goofy and the characters can't leave. And that led me to realize parents have never appeared in Equestria Girls, except for Granny Smith and Filthy Rich. In chapter 6, it was odd that it suddenly switched to Rarity's perspective, after solely being from Sunset's, and then to other characters. Twilight's desire to hang out with Sunset seems really odd here, given their interactions. I liked chapter 10, at the animal shelter, a lot.

And while reading the above, I got an alert that Monochromatic decided that background characters in The Enchanted Library need tragic backstories too.

Sylvee · Feb 20, 2018

SigmasonicX said:
As for Eugene and Cassandra, he was a prolific thief until just recently, and he comes off as a lazy slob a lot of the time. More importantly though, Cassandra is in love with Rapunzel and is jealous of Eugene. Or at least that's what Tumblr tells me.

I just feel like they take the fact that they don't like each other for granted from what I've seen so far. I can think of a ton of reasons why they probably wouldn't like each-other but it feels like they don't really show it off that well in the actual episodes. All they really do is just throw insults at each other.

I think Tumblr is lying to you... Clearly she's after Hook Hand and is upset that he's doing his world tour without her and is taking it out on Eugene.

Some art:

my_little_pony__sunburst_starlight_study_together_by_zouyugi-dbr210m.png

SigmasonicX · Feb 21, 2018

Sylvee said:
I think Tumblr is lying to you... Clearly she's after Hook Hand and is upset that he's doing his world tour without her and is taking it out on Eugene.

All this time in the pony fandom and you still don't realize the easiest explanation is always lesbians.

Sylvee said:
Some art:

Well that's nice--wait, Fluttershy wearing a collar? With her front leg conveniently covering her crotch? Don't tell me... (checks) OK, false alarm.

Season 8 episode 3 announced!
3. The Maud Couple - Mar 31, 2018
Pinkie Pie's super-best-friend-sister bond is challenged when Maud gets a boyfriend that Pinkie can't stand.

This Death Battle Cast discusses their decision to make Raven vs. Twilight Sparkle around 5:56, but then gets sidetracked and gets back to it around 11:16. They get sidetracked a lot. They say that there won't be any gimmicks to it, and this will just be a straight up Death Battle. Around 15:00, they mention that the best sprites they found of Twilight were her as a unicorn, so they had to add wings to all of them. They don't bring it up again after this.

This was alright.
My Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Forgotten Friendship CENSORED! - YouTube

And there's this

Forgotten Friendship
First, screencap with two major derps.

Double Angel and footless Dash.

1.FlutterThrash: No satanic alter-ego for you! - Wallflower
2.Wallflower Blush (Equestria Girls) by wolfchen999 on DeviantArt
3.Wallflower by WubcakeVA on DeviantArt

1.Wallflower Blush : Do you really know who I am? by PyroPk on DeviantArt
2.EQG - Wallflower Blush by edline02 on DeviantArt
3.MLP Vector - Pinkie Pie #6 by jhayarr23 on DeviantArt - Ponified Pinkie

1.Pony Wallflower with Sunset reaching out to her by labglab
2.MLP Equestria Girls - Forgotten Friendship by liniitadash23 on DeviantArt

And English version of True Purpose by uotapo, might as well post again.

General art
1.Paprika by Heir of Rick - Paprika from Them's Fightin' Herds
2.The mighty Pomosaurus by Heir of Rick - Pom from Them's Fightin' Herds
3.lil' doodle for Valentines Day by Heir of Rick - Paprika from Them's Fightin' Herds

1.Captain Celaeno by Marenlicious on DeviantArt
2.Dashie smile by FluffyXai on DeviantArt
3.Sweet dreams by Xjenn9 on DeviantArt - Fluttershy

1.A World Beyond My Own by LolliponyBrony on DeviantArt - Twilight
2.Dragonfang mountains by Plainoasis on DeviantArt - Landscape
3.Princess Twibug by FoughtDragon01 on DeviantArt - Changeling Twilight

1.night by OrchidPony on DeviantArt - Nightmare Moon
2.Songbird Serenade by tyuubatu on DeviantArt
3.Cadence s headphones by AlexBlueBird on DeviantArt

1.Octavia Melody by The-Park on DeviantArt
2.DnD Pony Series: Mage Twilight by Hollulu on DeviantArt
3.DnD Pony Series: Druid Fluttershy by Hollulu on DeviantArt

1.Lying Rainbow Dash by conbudou on DeviantArt
2.RainBOOM! by Rutkotka on DeviantArt - Rainbow Dash
3.Starlight X Braeburn commission by Andy Price (IDW comic artist) - I'd say this was the ultimate crackship if I hadn't seen Pear Butter (Applejack's mom) X Night Light (Twilight's dad)

1.Moonbuns by Egophiliac - Luna
2.Lifesize Lyra plushie by Epicrainbowcrafts on DeviantArt
3.Tell Us That You Want Us by JeNnDyLyOn on DeviantArt - Dazzlings in siren form

1.Speedpaint - Fluttershy by FoughtDragon01 on DeviantArt
2.AppleJack head by Akweer on DeviantArt
3.Serious Pinkie by INowISeeI on DeviantArt
4.30 Minute Challenge by Shad0w-Galaxy on DeviantArt - Twilight

Comic
Revenge by FrenkieArt on DeviantArt

Sylvee · Feb 21, 2018

SigmasonicX said:
All this time in the pony fandom and you still don't realize the easiest explanation is always lesbians.

Look at this guy though. What woman wouldn't be going after him?

Also like how there's an in-canon relationship that was pretty much the whole point of the movie it was based on and is actually written well and people are still shipping the two female leads together.

SigmasonicX said:
Well that's nice--wait, Fluttershy wearing a collar? With her front leg conveniently covering her crotch? Don't tell me... (checks) OK, false alarm.

Conkersbadfurday · Feb 21, 2018

Nice to see after all these years, the MLP fandom still kicks out excellent artwork.

SigmasonicX · Feb 22, 2018

Sylvee said:
Also like how there's an in-canon relationship that was pretty much the whole point of the movie it was based on and is actually written well and people are still shipping the two female leads together.

I don't actually see much shipping of Rapunzel and Cassandra, just a general acknowledgement that the latter feels unrequited gayness toward the former.

Conkersbadfurday said:
Nice to see after all these years, the MLP fandom still kicks out excellent artwork.

Yeah, it's pretty remarkable just how much good fan art continues to come out every single day. Including stuff ED doesn't showcase. And that's just looking at SFW stuff!

Friendship is Magic #63
I don't know how to feel about this issue. It involves a mare named Temperance Flowerdew coming into town proclaiming the dangers of sugar, and she convinces most of the town to give it up. This is presented as a bad thing. In the end, Twilight is able to convince her that she isn't making anyone happier, and that the answer is to eat sugar in moderation.

There are a couple of problems with this. First, ponies are shown eating sugary treats all the time in the show, with little fear of gaining weight, and they're even presented as legit meals often. We look past this because they're cartoon ponies, but once you introduce the idea that these ponies are, in fact, facing the same risks us humans do with sugar, suddenly you start to question all of that. Maybe all those 2011 comics and fanfics of Pinkie getting diabetes could actually happen! And secondly, sugar is a real threat for people, especially children. The comic wants us to view the mare's concerns about sugar's dangers as silly, and that it's fine to eat in moderation, but it doesn't really show us what that looks like. Is it the amount of sugar eating from the show? Because that's super unhealthy for a human.

The issue is clearly going for the larger idea that it's rarely right to be all-or-nothing about something, with sugar just being a particular example, but I think using that to demonstrate this was a mistake.

However, the art is very strong and there are a lot of fun gags, including the Apple Speakeasy.

I hadn't realized until I read Silver Quill's review, but Temperance is directly based on Carrie Nation, one of the main women behind the prohibition of alcohol. He doesn't bring up my concerns with the sugar theme, instead talking about how in real life, it's better to convince the public about an issue rather than "winning" against a single speaker.

Overall, the issue covers its story well enough, but I don't think this was the right story for this series.

==

Twilight information for her Death Battle with Raven. Thankfully, they pointedly don't include anything from her Tirek fight.

Nali · Feb 22, 2018

SigmasonicX said:
*fic stuff*

Yeah, that all sounds on point.

SigmasonicX said:
Friendship is Magic #63

This is eerily similar to the premise of a good, but quite dead, comedy fic.

Trigonometrize · Feb 22, 2018

SigmasonicX said:
3. The Maud Couple - Mar 31, 2018
Pinkie Pie's super-best-friend-sister bond is challenged when Maud gets a boyfriend that Pinkie can't stand.

This is my most anticipated episode. I hope they don't make him super remarkable to make them like a weirdo power couple.

Sylvee · Feb 22, 2018

Trigonometrize said:
This is my most anticipated episode. I hope they don't make him super remarkable to make them like a weirdo power couple.

I guess I didn't hit send and then I updated my computer, but I meant to send a message saying that this episode just was revealed to be written by Nick Confalone, so rest assured it's in pretty good hands.

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2018/02/and-writer-behind-maud-couple-is-nick.html

Also today was the early access release of Them's Fightin Herds, now currently available on Steam. The game is currently missing the main story mode, as well as some general polish and animations for several of the characters. No online matchmaking currently either apparently, just the lobby system. You can find the thread on Era for it here:
https://www.resetera.com/threads/thems-fightin-herds-ot-fighting-is-magic.25146/

SigmasonicX · Feb 22, 2018

Trigonometrize said:
This is my most anticipated episode. I hope they don't make him super remarkable to make them like a weirdo power couple.

Hoping for Flash Sentry.

SigmasonicX · Feb 23, 2018

New web series! Well, we saw this particular video like three months ago, but it sounds like that was another unintentional upload. I don't believe it had that intro before, and it's now labeled with "episode 1".

This is done in a similar style to Flurry Heart's Heartfelt Scrapbook, which was narrated by Pinkie, and Rarity's Peek Behind the Boutique. While it uses a lot of show clips, there is also a lot of original footage, and the show clips they do use are pretty heavily modified. And of course, Celestia's dialogue is brand new.

New chat story! Haven't had one of these in a while.

UberTag-Yesterday at 10:19 PM
When do we get the Reboot Remake homage in pony lore, where some guy in a hoodie taps into Equestria from Dougverse and starts barking orders to Tirek while the Equestria Girls zap themselves into ponies to defend Equestria because their pony counterparts have all been captured?
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 10:22 PM
Equestria Girls? Pssh, like they'd do something that sort of makes sense with the lore.
In 20 years, we'll get My Little Pony: The Guardian Code, where live action teens discover one of their teachers has a collection of MLP toys, and a mirror portal to Equestria. They go through it and are transformed into ponies, using worse Flash animation than FiM despite the time that passed, but we still cut back to the human actors inside the ponies all the time. Then you can have some guy in a hoodie barking orders to Tirek.
Trigonometrize-Yesterday at 10:31 PM
[random] [human] [crossover]
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 10:32 PM
New comic issue is about sugar prohibition, and it has this scene https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AVgVVZyg...DC8hgWRACEwYBhgL/s1600/speakeasy_interior.png

Yes, Applejack is running a speakeasy
Trigonometrize-Yesterday at 10:32 PM
I just thought about Junji Ito making an MLP comic
It looks like the comic writers are getting to that point
give her time
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 10:34 PM
We already decided that the Equestria Girls portal works like those holes
Also noticed that Fluttershy is the only one wearing clothes in that panel. How bold.
Trigonometrize-Yesterday at 10:36 PM
This works better than expected

nuh uh, AJ wearing a hat
If you put a hat on 'em, it's PG-13, but if you put a full outfit, it's R. This country is completely backwards when it comes to reverse nudity!
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 10:39 PM
Sugar really removes Fluttershy's inhibitions
By adding clothes

(downs sundae)

Woo! Spring break!

(puts on sweater)

Put it all on, Fluttershy!
Trigonometrize-Yesterday at 10:47 PM

just as long as she doesn't do any flying under the influence
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 10:48 PM

(has too many clothes on to fly)
Trigonometrize-Yesterday at 10:50 PM

we have to sexualize young, vulenerable women in order to combat our drunk flying problem. Quite the dilemma
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 10:51 PM

If you take this to its logical extent, then the hottest a pony can be is if she's so covered in clothes that you can't see the pony anymore. In which case, what's the difference between that and a pile of clothes with no pony?

Oh my, aren't you a lovely thing?
Trigonometrize-Yesterday at 10:52 PM

ethical CP — clothes piles
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 10:55 PM

Ugh, what happened? Why does my head feel so--

Sweet Celestia, what am I wearing?!

(slips out of clothes)

There. I hope nopony saw me like that. How embarassing.

Hey gurl
Trigonometrize-Yesterday at 10:58 PM

Do the clothes rules apply to me as a human? Am I sexy?
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 10:58 PM

Rarity! This isn't what it looks like!(edited)

Clothes on a human? Meh.
Trigonometrize-Yesterday at 10:59 PM

Applebloom, that bow

Diamond Tiara, that tiara...
UberTag-Yesterday at 11:00 PM
What have I walked in on?
pulls up chair and eats popcorn with GlimGlam
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 11:00 PM

Apple Bloom, you are too young to dress like that!
UberTag-Yesterday at 11:00 PM

SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 11:00 PM

Don't you talk to my sister that way!

It's clearly your bad influence that she dresses that way!

But... as we can see, it works on Twilight... so if you can't beat them

Trigonometrize-Yesterday at 11:01 PM

H

A

T
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 11:02 PM

Rarity... that hat...

Whoops, I mean

Trigonometrize-Yesterday at 11:03 PM

I can't keep up
UberTag-Yesterday at 11:03 PM
Spike is all about the hats.
https://pre00.deviantart.net/485c/th/pre/f/2012/315/9/7/spikes_new_hat__by_permaxfrost-d5kmn8g.png

SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 11:03 PM

Forget you, Twilight. I found my true love.

UberTag-Yesterday at 11:04 PM
I thought Rarity's true love was Tom the Boulder.
Poor Tom.
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 11:05 PM
No rocks, only

UberTag-Yesterday at 11:05 PM

are Starlight and Trixie's thing
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 11:06 PM

I now pronounce you mare and hat!

UberTag-Yesterday at 11:08 PM
What if Spike wears the

?
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 11:08 PM

Adding any biological matter would reduce the hattiness, darling!

But what if... I became the hat!

It is theoretically possible.

(magic)

Yes! Now I am the greatest...

... I can't move.
[The End]
Trigonometrize-Yesterday at 11:12 PM

oh Spike

And speaking of Discord chat stories, Monochromatic expanded on her Telenovela AU idea.

Sylvee · Feb 23, 2018

Got another 15 second trailer for season 8, nothing new but it's cool that they're advertising it. Since the move from the Hub that hasn't always happened that much.

Really I just wanted to share art:

"Open up your eyes"

open_up_your_eeeyeah_wow____by_mickeymonster-dc3z75s.png

ember_for_jyc_row_collab_light262_by_dormin_kanna-dc426up.jpg

Holy cow I forgot this guy even existed:

SigmasonicX · Feb 24, 2018

Sylvee said:
Got another 15 second trailer for season 8, nothing new but it's cool that they're advertising it. Since the move from the Hub that hasn't always happened that much.

Yeah, and Forgotten Friendship has gotten a ton of ads too. Better late than never. This teaser was pretty good.

Sylvee said:
Holy cow I forgot this guy even existed:

Grubber doesn't get much fan love, yeah.

Sunday's stream is Rarity Day 2! With fewer Rarities, but all quality!

1. Short - Life is a Runway
2. Green Isn't Your Color
3. Short - Rarity's Peek Behind the Boutique - Fashion Do's & Don'ts
4. Sweet and Elite
5. Canterlot Boutique
6. Short - RPBtB - Fashion Vs. Function
7. Rarity Investigates!
8. The Saddle Row Review
9. Short - RPBtB - Customer Critiques
10. It Isn't the Mane Thing About You

==

Fan-made CYOA.

And short cute animation.

ED followup of "Forgotten Friendship" and... a lot of this praise of Sunset's character honestly made me go, "???" But it provides some screencaps.

1.Sunset's room, and it looks like she's doing pretty well money-wise after all
2.Inside Sunset's locker, including her Flanksy cap and spray paint, a dumb looking portable game console, an individual photo of SciTwi, and other things

And art dump
1.Pirate Fluttershy by Bugplayer on DeviantArt
2.Twilight portrait by obsidelle on DeviantArt
3.Spring sun by JuliaGoldfox on DeviantArt - Fluttershy and Discord

1.LA-ndy on Twitter: "It's the third time for me to do EqCN's new year banner.different year, different idea. For this year, Qi Pao, absolutely, featuring Tempest.:D Check this on EqCN -> https://t.co/LWN2pUnkBr… https://t.co/g1p8sQNqa2"
2.Not Forgotten by VanillaGhosties on DeviantArt - Sunset and SciTwi
3.unicorns by quizia on DeviantArt

1.Skystar and Pinkie by (hans) peter heisler
2.あかいぬ on Twitter: "触っても良くってよ？ #朝ピンキーパイ… " (by AKAINU7) - Pinkie
3.あかいぬ on Twitter: "ヒッポゥむずかしい…… " (by AKAINU7) - Skystar

1.And then~! by Neytirix on DeviantArt - The artist says it's a mystery chibi, but that's clearly G5 Fluttershy
2.WALLFLOWER BLUSH by Rivin177 on DeviantArt
3.Doodle Doodles doodles. — I'm hyyyyped! - Velvet from Them's Fightin' Herds

1.Portrait: Velvet by pridark on DeviantArt
2.Portrait: Paprika by pridark on DeviantArt
3.Portrait: Arizona by pridark on DeviantArt

1.Pom Pom by Waackery on DeviantArt
2.Arizona and Velvet by cocorinus
3.Down Boy! by War-Dyn27 on DeviantArt - Pom

1.Unicorn Tea Party by War-Dyn27 on DeviantArt - Oleander and Fred
2.Python Hugs! by War-Dyn27 on DeviantArt - Paprika and a predator
3.Fabulous Velvet by War-Dyn27 on DeviantArt - Velvet and snow sprites

1.Arizona Done Bucked Up by War-Dyn27 on DeviantArt
2.Starlight and Trixie by xishka
3.Applejack by noupu

1.G5 Fluttershy by clockworkquartet
2.This is best ship fight me by WanderingPegasus on DeviantArt - Sunburst X Twilight
3.Pinkie Pie by piinoy on DeviantArt

1.Princess Luna by SeaMaggie on DeviantArt
2.Coco's Special Costume - Flower of Purity by RJ-Streak on DeviantArt

Comics
Forget It by EMositeCC on DeviantArt - Twilight and Spike

Wallflower's Sweater by EMositeCC on DeviantArt - Sunset and Wallflower

Bricks · Feb 24, 2018

Mono is Mexican? That... explains a lot

Conkersbadfurday · Feb 24, 2018

Sunset must have swiped some pony gold from Cellestia before coming to dougworld because she's clearly loaded. That's a big room. She has three guitars! THREE! And an amp. And other stuff.

Explains why Cellestia gave her the stinkeye when she showed up. "Do I forgive the friendship shit AND the larcen or just the friendship shit?"

fony · Feb 24, 2018

Hey!

So I finished reading The Mare Who Once Lived On The Moon. Well, that was more than a month ago. I forgot most of what I wanted to say. I was suprised it got shippy after a few chapters by virtue of not having read the tags. I'm glad it wasn't just that for the rest of the story.

It was really interesting to see how it took one part of the show's canon and just ran with it, making all the main characters geniuses in their own respect. So that they'd have evertyhing needed for the ending. (Escept maybe Fluttershy? I did not except a fight to break out with her.)

I found it strange that it would use a Steampunk setting but mainly talk about the end of the steampunk era. It did work for the story though.

Oh yeah, and the reason I'm posting here is because I can't log into disc again, not even with a token. I think there was only that one week where I could log in again. Could someone run a bridge from it to anywhere else on the net?

Also, EQG special happened and this is one of my favourites of the EQG things. Maybe because the ending confrontation was shorter. Those always feel weird in EQG from me.

Conkersbadfurday · Feb 24, 2018

Finally got to this week's comic. It's pretty bad, mostly in that everyone's an idiot for the sake of the plot to happen, which in itself isn't all that great to begin with.

Like, some bitch shows up with a sword and destroys property and a member of royalty is all "welp can't do anything about that! I hope she goes away!"

Twilight honey, you have a castle...of sorts. Castles have dungeons. Or at least a broom closet in the basement you can stick a chair in front of. Throw her in there, forget about her, and then when she's dead, continue forgetting about her. That's the best part about forgetting, the not remembering bit.

SigmasonicX · Feb 24, 2018

Bricks said:
Mono is Mexican? That... explains a lot

Not sure where you're going with this.

Conkersbadfurday said:
Sunset must have swiped some pony gold from Cellestia before coming to dougworld because she's clearly loaded. That's a big room. She has three guitars! THREE! And an amp. And other stuff.

Explains why Cellestia gave her the stinkeye when she showed up. "Do I forgive the friendship shit AND the larcen or just the friendship shit?"

The exchange rate between bits and dougdollars must be insane.

fony said:
Hey!

So I finished reading The Mare Who Once Lived On The Moon. Well, that was more than a month ago. I forgot most of what I wanted to say. I was suprised it got shippy after a few chapters by virtue of not having read the tags. I'm glad it wasn't just that for the rest of the story.

It was really interesting to see how it took one part of the show's canon and just ran with it, making all the main characters geniuses in their own respect. So that they'd have evertyhing needed for the ending. (Escept maybe Fluttershy? I did not except a fight to break out with her.)

I found it strange that it would use a Steampunk setting but mainly talk about the end of the steampunk era. It did work for the story though.

Hey! You exist outside the chat!

If you haven't seen it, the fic has a trailer.

I posted my thoughts on the story back on GAF here. And copied below:

Just finished The Mare Who Once Lived on the Moon. Overall, I enjoyed it, but I found the middle part much better than the start or end. That's a huge chunk of the story, mind.

A major weakness of the story is that I found all the stuff with Twilight assembling her friends and them learning to get along far more interesting than Twilight's relationship with Luna and all the stuff with Evil Celestia.

Like I mentioned before, the leap from Twilight being interested in Luna to wanting to jump her was pretty sudden. Them communicating through poetry was sweet, but after they met in person, Twilight and Luna simply didn't spend enough time together before it jumped to them getting engaged. Even the final chapter didn't actually place much focus on their relationship. Early on, Rarity brought up that Twilight could just be feeling this strongly about Luna because she's never been in love before, and demonstrated this by easily seducing her. That never got addressed again. On the ship in general, I actually do like TwiLuna, and I think it makes a lot of sense; if they were to make a lesbian Twilight ship canon, this probably would be the easiest one to do. Plus, it doesn't have the glaring weakness of TwiLestia, where Celestia knew her as a child and was a parent figure.

Celestia as a villain didn't work too well. Yes, she was menacing, but she was presented as someone who would arbitrarily kill Twilight if she annoyed her, and there was nothing actually stopping her other than Good Celestia conveniently breaking through. Since Celestia was suspicious of Twilight ever since she confronted her with Rarity, it didn't make sense that she allowed Twilight to do so much, and then later conveniently left her friends alone after arresting Twilight. Besides Good Celestia making things convenient, I mean. It would have been better if Celestia wasn't so overtly cruel, like she seemed to be before the aforementioned confrontation, but still put Twilight under house arrest and then full arrest, minus the threats to her family. Then those actions would make sense.

The way the Elements of Harmony were handled was... bizarre. I'm not really sure what it was in the end. Just some device Twilight put together after hearing about it from Luna? Made from spare parts in the ship? And it's just a magic amplifier that has to be charged up with lightning? You can't just bring in the Elements of Harmony and not have it involve a group of friends coming together. At least give Twilight an internal monologue about how the device couldn't have been created without the efforts of each of her friends.

By the end, I thought the other girls were presented pretty well. My favorite parts were those that involved everyone hanging out together and being friends, notably that bit where everyone got drunk together. After all the stuff with Rarity and Applejack, I'm pretty surprised the story didn't go for that ship, instead appearing to pair off Rainbow and Pinkie, which I didn't see coming.

Of Twilight's friends, the one handled worst was Fluttershy. I thought her initial characterization was interesting, but after befriending Twilight, it seemed like the author just didn't know what to do with her. Unlike the others, she didn't form any close friendship with anyone. Maybe Rarity, since they share scenes together? But those moments felt more like Rarity talking and Fluttershy being used just to have someone respond to her. And by the last chapter, she's acts like the shy Fluttershy from the show, even though there was no indication in the story beforehand that she was actually shy--the opposite, in fact.

On the subject of Fluttershy, the orphans she took care of were handled oddly. It was just weird to make a big deal out of how they shouldn't be used as labor, due to all of the injuries they've gotten... but oh, it's fine to work on Twilight's experiments, and it's even encouraged! I wasn't a huge fan of the focus they got, but they were alright. I'm pretty sure the story lost track of a couple of them, though, like the violin playing girl, Viola.

And I just realized: the author completely forgot Spike was part of the story. He doesn't even appear in the final chapter! In fact, when was the last time he was mentioned? ...Third to last chapter, helping prepare some food. He isn't mentioned during the launch or when everyone is captured, or at any point after that.

On a smaller note, there's a moment toward the middle where it's revealed that Twilight's laser injured Flash Sentry accidentally, and it's treated as a joke. Then it's revealed he died. But it's just mentioned in passing, Twilight brushes it off, and it's never touched on again. Why do that?

The story made it obvious what the author is interested in (and his name, MrNumbers), and like I mentioned before, the science stuff was all pretty interesting. Having space actually be filled with aether, that can be converted into a huge source of magic, and using that to influence the spacecraft's design was pretty inspired. However, all this detail in certain areas made it more obvious where it was lacking. For one thing, they break open a hole in the wall to make an entrance to the sewer, and they happily just take that route to Fluttershy's home and back. There are really no issues with that? And how did they handle poop on the ship?

Overall, I did think the fic was good, and it was quite engaging. I enjoyed the world building and character interactions, and would have liked more of that instead of the actual main story. But despite my complaints, the main story isn't bad at all, just not as good. I'll probably check out this author's other stuff later.

EDIT: Whoops, forgot to talk about Twilight herself.

I liked her portrayal here, other than her being so dismissive about killing Flash Sentry. She had great interactions with everyone, and like I mentioned, I liked her gathering everyone.

It was interesting how everyone played a part in Twilight's project, but Fluttershy herself was a weak link in that regard. Her introductory chapters really left an impression--including the fist/hoof fight you mentioned--but she kind of slides into the background after that.

As for ending the steampunk, an important part of the setting is that it has a ton of problems, particularly with class. When you toss the FiM characters into it, it makes sense that the end goal would be to set things right.

fony said:
Oh yeah, and the reason I'm posting here is because I can't log into disc again, not even with a token. I think there was only that one week where I could log in again. Could someone run a bridge from it to anywhere else on the net?

Maybe a dumb question, but if you want to participate in the Discord chat, why not just use Discord?

fony said:
Also, EQG special happened and this is one of my favourites of the EQG things. Maybe because the ending confrontation was shorter. Those always feel weird in EQG from me.

The writer deliberately chose not to have Wallflower turn into a big monster, which helped.

Conkersbadfurday said:
Finally got to this week's comic. It's pretty bad, mostly in that everyone's an idiot for the sake of the plot to happen, which in itself isn't all that great to begin with.

Like, some bitch shows up with a sword and destroys property and a member of royalty is all "welp can't do anything about that! I hope she goes away!"

Twilight honey, you have a castle...of sorts. Castles have dungeons. Or at least a broom closet in the basement you can stick a chair in front of. Throw her in there, forget about her, and then when she's dead, continue forgetting about her. That's the best part about forgetting, the not remembering bit.

Arresting her would have made a scene, especially since she had followers with her, but inaction did nothing to help, yeah. The story was evoking the historical figure Carrie Nation, who used a hatchet to wreck bars, but she did actually get arrested a lot.

Sylvee · Feb 24, 2018

Conkersbadfurday said:
Twilight honey, you have a castle...of sorts. Castles have dungeons. Or at least a broom closet in the basement you can stick a chair in front of. Throw her in there, forget about her, and then when she's dead, continue forgetting about her. That's the best part about forgetting, the not remembering bit.

Alternatively just sick Starlight on her and look the other way. That would solve that problem.

Bricks · Feb 25, 2018

SigmasonicX said:
Not sure where you're going with this.

Well, I think I've already stated in the past that I wasn't really a fan of what I've read by her, finding it a bit too 'over the top', almost forced. So learning that she's Mexican and therefore she possibly grew up with those infamous telenovelas where many aspects - such as drama - are cranked up to eleven for the sake of it made me think of the possible influences that may have had on her style. After all, this is what she says:

i was telling friends on a discord server about a telenovela AU bc i'm mexican so ofc id do a telenovela au so i thought I would share it here because it's dramatic as all hell and therefore amazing

That may also (partially) explain why I wasn't convinced by some of her prose. This, however, could just be due to her personal writing style, and nothing that has to do with her mastery of the language.

Not that that message was meant to be taken too seriously, anyway... I wouldn't use reaction faces such as that one otherwise :p

fony · Feb 25, 2018

SigmasonicX said:
If you haven't seen it, the fic has a trailer.

Yeah, that's how I got to reading it. I posted this in one of the channels and you said something about the fic. Still really like this trailer!

SigmasonicX said:
Twilight and Luna simply didn't spend enough time together before it jumped to them getting engaged.

Wasn't there a time skip before they got engaged? Or was it much shorter than I remembered?

SigmasonicX said:
Rarity brought up that Twilight could just be feeling this strongly about Luna because she's never been in love before, and demonstrated this by easily seducing her. That never got addressed again.

I thought that part was mainly to establish Rarity's character, to give context to the Applejack and Big Mac arc. Although if it is meant to suggest some doubt, I'm thinking that seeing their relationship actually pan out is the resolution of the issue (but then I guess they should have said something to that effect).

SigmasonicX said:
You can't just bring in the Elements of Harmony and not have it involve a group of friends coming together.

I just assumed this is one of the improuvments TWilight made so it doesn't need that.

SigmasonicX said:
It was just weird to make a big deal out of how they shouldn't be used as labor, due to all of the injuries they've gotten... but oh, it's fine to work on Twilight's experiments, and it's even encouraged!

I thought their fight was about this. Fluttershy was convinced Twilight had no intent to abuse the orphans, so Twilight would presumably not have them do anything that's accident prone.

SigmasonicX said:
the author just didn't know what to do with her.

SigmasonicX said:
the author completely forgot Spike was part of the story.

Haha, I never noticed! There were enough characters to keep track by then and the story flowed well enough for me. I guess I'd forgive anything the show itself already does like not asking such as

SigmasonicX said:
And how did they handle poop on the ship?

Now that's asking the real important questions. :)

I agree with the rest. The off handed remark about killing a pegasus was a bit weird. I wonder if its some joke about the fandom's dislike of Flash Sentry.

Oh yeah and I personally didn't find anything problematic with the ending. Maybe because I didn't predict it.

On the other hand, I didn't really like that the science converged to the human history of science, espcially in an alternate history in an alternate universe, as if the (popular) stuff we have now wasn't due to chance. Of course, I know its easier to describe and

SigmasonicX said:
As for ending the steampunk, an important part of the setting is that it has a ton of problems, particularly with class. When you toss the FiM characters into it, it makes sense that the end goal would be to set things right.

Hm, I somehow missed that the two problems were related. I thought the problems were caused by the beginning of the Steampunk era rather than the end.

SigmasonicX said:
Maybe a dumb question, but if you want to participate in the chat, why not just use it?

For a very long time the chat was an IRC channel. Boring off-topic rant.

SigmasonicX said:
The writer deliberately chose not to have Wallflower turn into a big monster, which helped.

Ah, very interesting. I hope they do that more. I'm also liked that they start to refer to songs in-universe again.

fony · Feb 25, 2018

And I almost forgot. This channel finally posts something after two years of inactivity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyqsQ5l9d5M

I recommend this one from the same channel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUBGT8vTezk

SigmasonicX · Feb 26, 2018

Bricks said:
Well, I think I've already stated in the past that I wasn't really a fan of what I've read by her, finding it a bit too 'over the top', almost forced. So learning that she's Mexican and therefore she possibly grew up with those infamous telenovelas where many aspects - such as drama - are cranked up to eleven for the sake of it made me think of the possible influences that may have had on her style. After all, this is what she says:

That may also (partially) explain why I wasn't convinced by some of her prose. This, however, could just be due to her personal writing style, and nothing that has to do with her mastery of the language.

Not that that message was meant to be taken too seriously, anyway... I wouldn't use reaction faces such as that one otherwise :p

OK, I figured you were referring to the telenovela level of drama in Mono's works, but I wasn't sure.

fony said:
Yeah, that's how I got to reading it. I posted this in one of the channels and you said something about the fic. Still really like this trailer!

Ah, sorry.

fony said:
Wasn't there a time skip before they got engaged? Or was it much shorter than I remembered?

I was referring to on-screen time. The timeskip can be as long as it wants, but we still didn't see much of Twilight and Luna's relationship ourselves.

fony said:
I thought that part was mainly to establish Rarity's character, to give context to the Applejack and Big Mac arc. Although if it is meant to suggest some doubt, I'm thinking that seeing their relationship actually pan out is the resolution of the issue (but then I guess they should have said something to that effect).

In the GAF thread, Sciz posted a comment from the author confirming that his original plan was for Twilight and Luna to realize that they didn't actually make a good couple and that their method of communication didn't allow them to understand each other. There's also this comment where he says that Twilight and Luna's relationship was meant to parallel the one between Prof. Spark and Pinkie. However, as the story developed, he had them communicate much more often and in more detail than he originally planned, so that ending no longer made dramatic sense. So, Rarity easily seducing Twilight was probably meant to be foreshadowing for the original ending, but became irrelevant later.

fony said:
I just assumed this is one of the improuvments TWilight made so it doesn't need that.

There is an in-universe explanation, yes, but from the perspective of the reader, the "Elements of Harmony" come out of nowhere.

fony said:
I thought their fight was about this. Fluttershy was convinced Twilight had no intent to abuse the orphans, so Twilight would presumably not have them do anything that's accident prone.

Yes, the characters in the story accept the arrangement as fair, but I still find it weird.

fony said:
Hm, I somehow missed that the two problems were related. I thought the problems were caused by the beginning of the Steampunk era rather than the end.

I meant that the steampunk genre (not the aesthetic) in general is concerned about class conflicts. It isn't something you can easily remove from it without destroying the setting.

fony said:
For a very long time the chat was an IRC channel. Boring off-topic rant.

Weird, my quote in your post is different from what I wrote. Anyway, fair enough. If there isn't a work around, you'll just be posting in the thread and not the chat, then?

==

Saturday's RP was part of the final rush to resolve the Tangerine World situation before new episodes start.
RP 11 - Tangerine World 6 - Rainbows

Cappy - Fluttershy
Rhomega - Applejack

Summary
Twilight has worked with the Tangerine World Pinkie Pie to develop a method to manually trigger a transfer to Tangerine World, and they try it out in Cloudsdale. However, this only sends over Fluttershy, Applejack, and Spike. There, they meet up with the Tangerine World version of Twilight Sparkle, a pegasus in the Wonderbolts who wears a fake horn. For aerodynamic reasons and certainly not to work around the emotes and art we have.

TW Pinkie wanted our ponies to help convince the one pony in the TW Mane Six who gave a definite no to helping out with the Everfree Forest situation, Rainbow Dash. Though unclear what exactly will happen, she and our Twilight are sure gathering everyone is the key to solving things. TW Pinkie, Twilight, and Applejack are definite yeses on helping. TW Rarity is in prison and is in no position to refuse. TW Fluttershy, who is a thief, is on the run and has not been found yet. There are wanted posters of her up, and she sent in her own picture to tease those chasing her. But that picture got more attention than the one they were using before, so they used that, to TW Twilight's annoyance.

They head over to talk to Rainbow Dash, who is a fashion designer that always dresses in style and uses "darling" a lot. She refuses to help because of how un-rainbow Canterlot Castle is and because she's busy with her upcoming lineup.

Cloudsdale had been drifting toward the Everfree Forest, but they thought it would be fine because they're far above it. However, a tree grows very quickly and stabs through the clouds close to Rainbow's store. Then a large wurm, a legless wingless dragon, climbs up and starts attacking. Ponies successfully flee, with it unable to get onto the clouds and thus restricted to its tree, but Rainbow's shop gets its attention. Thus, she and the heroes fight to defend it. The rainbows distract the wurm from Fluttershy's Stare. Twilight joins the fight, using sharp turns around the wurm's head that require precise wing positioning to make it dizzy.

While it's distracted, the heroes examine the tree and see that it's damaged where the wurm is gripping onto it. Fluttershy and Rainbow carry Applejack on their backs down below. She bucks the tree, successfully knocking that part down and the wurm with it. However, the recoil knocks her off the two pegasi, and the wurm flailing stops Fluttershy from helping. It's up to Rainbow to save Applejack, and she isn't as fast as our Rainbow, but thankfully Applejack was still wearing a dress Rainbow gave her, which has a built in parachute. Pretty useful when ponies keep falling off the city. She brings Applejack back up to Cloudsdale.

Rainbow understands how serious the Everfree Forest's threat is and agrees to help now. Derpy, who turns out to be the captain of the Wonderbolts, appears and says some suspicious things, but everyone laughs, so it's fine.

The heroes suddenly find themselves going forward in time, first appearing to have told Princess Moon (Trixie) that they're going into the Forest without everyone, then finding themselves deep in the Forest, then getting attacked, then seeing some strange visuals, then finding themselves back where they were, with everyone laughing at Derpy's joke(?).

Then they're back home. Their Twilight explains that the Everfree Forest might be altering the makeup of Tangerine World, messing with the connection between the two worlds. She says they definitely won't try to manually trigger a transfer now, and that the random dimensional swaps will only get worse now, until they fix things there.

Setting
Not much was revealed about Cloudsdale, so it can be assumed to roughly be the same. It was even in the same place in both dimensions, though I suppose we can thank Twilight and TW Pinkie for that. Rainbow Dash runs a successful dress store called Rainbow Dash Always Dresses in Style.

The Everfree Forest contains large wurms, or dragons without legs and wings. It appears to be altering the makeup of the Tangerine World dimension itself.

Characters
Twilight Sparkle the Wonderbolt - Born a pegasus, Twilight was able to analyze the mechanics of flight and apply it to herself, making her a flier skilled enough to get into the Wonderbolts. She still holds an interest in science, but is unable to cast magic. She wears a fake horn to be a bit more aerodynamic, or so she claims. She is devoted to the throne and knowledgeable of odd tidbits like why there aren't any rainbows in Canterlot Castle. Her cutie mark is the same, representing the wonder of flight.

Rainbow Dash the dressmaker - Rainbow is obsessed with rainbows, and wishes to make everyone as dashing as her. Thus, she opened a store devoted to making rainbow clothing. She's fussy at a level beyond our Rarity, but she'll still help in a pinch. She adds parachutes to all of her dresses, because ponies keep falling off of Cloudsdale. Her cutie mark is the same.

Wonderbolts Captain Derpfisto (aka Derpy) - Derpy makes random speeches about how the world is imperfect, but she definitely isn't evil.

==

Today's stream was Rarity Day 2! And... it was less active than I expected. It was just one other person for a while, but two other people did jump in later. The episodes were:
1. Green Isn't Your Color
2. Sweet and Elite
3. Canterlot Boutique
4. Rarity Investigates!
5. The Saddle Row Review
6. It Isn't the Mane Thing About You

In addition to four official shorts and other videos, linked below.

With the first two episodes, I really miss when Meghan McCarthy wrote slice of life episodes. She was great at writing Rarity, and both episodes had very memorable side characters, notably Photo Finish and Fancy Pants. In "Canterlot Boutique", I forgot that entire thing with Sassy wanting to run the store, and how it doesn't actually tie much into anything. With "Rarity Investigates!", if I was able to find a comic dub for the below comic, I would have included it in the stream.
S05E15 by seer45 on DeviantArt

Nothing in particular to say about the other two episodes. Every episode in the stream was among the best the series had to offer.

Here are the YouTube videos I played, including official shorts.
1.Reverse Generosity starring Rarity - YouTube
2.MLP: Equestria Girls - Rainbow Rocks - 'Life is a Runway' Official Music Video - YouTube
3.Rarity My Little Pony G4 AMV - "Your Love Is My Drug" - Ke$ha - YouTube - This is actually the very first FiM PMV, coming out before the first episode aired, using solely promo footage.
4.MLP: Friendship is Magic - "Rarity's Peek Behind the Boutique - Fashion Do's & Don'ts" EXCLUSIVE - YouTube
5.MLP Comic Dub: 'Emergency Edible Boots' (comedy) - YouTube
6.MLP: Friendship is Magic - "Rarity's Peek Behind the Boutique - Fashion Vs. Function" EXCLUSIVE - YouTube
7.[SFM Ponies] Deck the halls (60fps) - YouTube
8.Rhythm is Magic: Foal In One - YouTube
9.MLP: Friendship is Magic - "Rarity's Peek Behind the Boutique - Customer Critiques" EXCLUSIVE - YouTube
10.Rarity - Punk Rock Existentialist - YouTube
11.Every Rarity "Darling" - My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - YouTube

Rarity's Peek Behind the Boutique is a fun official web series that uses a lot of show footage, but modifies it in an interesting way, and has new lines from Rarity, which makes it worth checking out on its own.

And might as well describe the themes of the upcoming streams.

March 3 - Season 1 Wrap Up
March 10 - Discord Day
March 17 - MLP: the Movie Day
March 24+ - Episode Day

After season 8 starts, the streams will show whatever new episode aired on the preceding Saturday. Not sure what else will be shown.

UberTag · Feb 26, 2018

SigmasonicX said:
After season 8 starts, the streams will show whatever new episode aired on the preceding Saturday. Not sure what else will be shown.

Just throwing an idea out there, but it would probably make sense to stream episodes that tie-in to the episode of the week. The Simpsons actually does this routinely by running marathons on FXX that focus around the characters and/or thematic material that will be showcased in the new episode that airs later that night on FOX.

So the stream for The Maud Couple could be accompanied by a bunch of Maud Pie episodes, as one example.

SigmasonicX · Feb 26, 2018

UberTag said:
Just throwing an idea out there, but it would probably make sense to stream episodes that tie-in to the episode of the week. The Simpsons actually does this routinely by running marathons on FXX that focus around the characters and/or thematic material that will be showcased in the new episode that airs later that night on FOX.

So the stream for The Maud Couple could be accompanied by a bunch of Maud Pie episodes, as one example.

Yeah, that makes sense. Though I'm still unsure about the number of episodes, particularly to figure out at what point we should start repeating episodes that were already on the stream. I'm leaning toward having 3-4 MLP episodes each stream during season 8 and also airing other shows.

Sylvee · Feb 27, 2018

SigmasonicX said:
Yeah, that makes sense. Though I'm still unsure about the number of episodes, particularly to figure out at what point we should start repeating episodes that were already on the stream. I'm leaning toward having 3-4 MLP episodes each stream during season 8 and also airing other shows.

Given how much stuff we still have to go through I don't think we should really be rewatching anything until after Season 8 has aired, even if it "makes sense" in context of the episode, that is unless a couple other people that haven't been following streams show up later. If we run out of pony we can show other stuff instead. I don't want it to be us just watching the same 50 episodes over and over.

Normally I don't link dank memes here but since I linked all of the decent art from today in Discord you get it here instead:

SigmasonicX · Mar 1, 2018

New episode synopsis!

4. Fake It 'Til You Make It - April 7
Fluttershy is the only pony available to look after the Manehattan boutique while Rarity is away and takes on a series of characters to cope with the intimidating clientele. But as her characters get more and more exaggerated, Fluttershy learns that she was already the best pony for the job just by being herself.

Right before the big leak, the story of this episode was revealed in the preview pages for the My Little Pony 2018 Annual book or magazine or whatever. The synopsis more or less says everything there is to know from there. Gotta love when the entire episode is summed up like this. Also,

Fluttershy learns that she was already the best pony

Legends of Magic #11
This issue has Mistmane join the group and introduces Starswirl. Unfortunately, I just didn't find this a particularly interesting story. It turns out Mistmane wasn't actually in any danger, and Starswirl is just in the middle of writing his "Magical Mystery Cure" spell (which he left incomplete).

I didn't like the entire thing with the super strong plants because it completely undermined the supposed heroics of the Pillars that they could be overpowered by things that weren't even a real threat. In particular, Rockhoof's entire thing is strength yet he continues to be largely ineffectual, and Flash Magnus hit his head and upset plants, nothing else. Somnambula was cute, and Meadowbrook was the only one who was actually useful here, by figuring out how to trick the plants to let them in. It is interesting how they defer to Stygian for leadership at this point; presumably once Starswirl joins, they completely switch over to him. Mistmane reveals the ability to talk to plants, and, uh, cool, I guess. But she was absent for most of the issue, so we didn't really get to know her well.

The section with Starswirl was cute for how it references other events, including the aforementioned spell and him having to take care of bratty teenage princesses.

The art remains a highlight of this series, with a lot of fun expressions, and the greenhouse had a lot of interesting colors.

The next issue is the final one, until the annual special. Given that it will focus on the actual defeat of the Sirens, and the annual special is about Stygian becoming the Pony of Shadows, Mistmane unfortunately doesn't seem like she'll get a moment to shine.

I hadn't noticed until I read Silver Quill's review, but they messed up and referred to Flash Magnus as Flash Sentry once!

==

It's finally here! Here's what I posted in the thread for it.

SigmasonicX said:
Kind of surprised they used Equestria Girls clips without any explanation or reaction.

In the end, they used the Tirek fight for feats after all. Kind of weird, given they outright stated she had the power of four princesses then.

They used Raven's love of ponies from Teen Titans Go, which is nice. You'd think that would mean she wouldn't fight a pony, but eh. As expected, the library burned down and we got a, "Not again!"

Pulling in the Elements of Magic seems like outside help. Not that it seemed to have a real impact on what Twilight was doing.

Raven won, which was expected. Using the Tirek fight for feats makes sense when it was to demonstrate that Raven's attacks go beyond what Twilight is shown resisting in there. When Twilight turned Raven into a plant, I was half expecting another "pony eats her foe" ending.

Enjoyable fight, but I really don't get how this was a close match, as they claimed in the videos leading up to this and in the wrap up for this. Maybe if Twilight had full access to the Elements of Harmony.

It makes sense for this one to be child friendly. It's not just Twilight who's from a kid's show, but Raven too. Teen Titans Go is huge.

I highly doubt they'll do another pony match. You got the underdog winning fight, the absurd fight with a tie, and now a clean loss. The only other characters who have enough feats for a fight are Applejack and Starlight Glimmer. Applejack would be boring, and Starlight would largely be a repeat of this match.

==

Episode guide
I drafted the season 7 episode guide, based on what I already wrote for the first half on GAF. One change to the format is that I finally decided to add synopses to episodes that aren't recommended. This means I'll have to go back and do that for every other season. Also included are the four Equestria Girls specials and the Movie.

With season 7, Starlight Glimmer is more strongly integrated into the main cast, appearing often in episodes not specifically about her, but she still doesn't quite form a Mane Seven. Map episodes break from their pattern, now sending single non Mane Six characters in two stand alone episodes. Throughout the season, we hear legends of ancient ponies, the Pillars of Equestria, who play a role in the season finale, but none of the other episode where they appear are listed as recommended. Also included in this section are four Equestria Girls TV specials (three half-hour ones collected as Tales of Canterlot High, and an hour-long one) and the theatrical My Little Pony: the Movie. The Equestria Girls web series also starts at this point, but that will be listed separately, and isn't needed to watch the specials.

01. Celestial Advice (Twilight Sparkle, Celestia, Starlight Glimmer, Spike)

As the ponies celebrate the defeat of Chrysalis, Twilight comes to a startling realization: maybe it's time she sent Starlight off on her own, like Celestia did for her. As she frets over the risks, Celestia offers a listening ear.
* The first one-part season premiere, and after seven seasons, Celestia finally appears as a character tag!
+ Twilight's overactive imagination over what could happen to Starlight is great, and we get to see Celestia's perspective of events leading up to the first episode. Other characters, including Discord and Ember, are pretty fun too.

02. All Bottled Up [SONG] (Starlight Glimmer, Trixie, Mane Six)

While the Mane Six are out, Starlight and Trixie accidentally teleport the Cutie Map to an unknown location. While they search for it, Trixie's cavalier attitude annoys Starlight so much that she fears she could snap, so she uses magic to literally bottle up her anger.
+ Starlight and Trixie are a fantastic pair. The Mane Six subplot is also really fun, with an incredibly catchy semi-self-parody song.

03. A Flurry of Emotions (Twilight Sparkle, Flurry Heart, Cadance, Spike)
Twilight is asked to take care of Flurry Heart for a day, despite her busy schedule.
+ Confirms that Twilight is BAE (Best Aunt Ever). Twilight and Flurry's interactions are cute, and we finally see Cadance and Shining Armor spend time together.
– Baby-based humor annoys some people.

04. Rock Solid Friendship (Pinkie Pie, Maud Pie, Starlight Glimmer)

Pinkie tries to convince Maud to move to Ponyville, and while the rocks don't interest her, a friend just might. Pinkie does everything she can to make friendship bloom, but she might just be getting in the way.
+ Expands Maud past her joke nature, making her a full-fledged character. Has tons of charming and funny character interactions.

05. Fluttershy Leans In (Fluttershy)
Fluttershy decides to create an animal sanctuary.
* Randomly brings back Big Daddy McColt from season 5's "The Hooffields and McColts".
+ Good showcase of Fluttershy's character development, and it has a giraffe.
– We're meant to sympathize with the supervisor with the vague idea and no concrete plans, and be angry at the people she hires for getting it wrong. Also, really padded.

06. Forever Filly (Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Cutie Mark Crusaders)
Rarity spends time with Sweetie Belle, failing to realize she's grown past the things they used to do together.
+ Some fun scenes, including a photoshoot with wacky costumes, and shows Sweetie Belle's character development. The ending is very sweet.
– Some found Rarity treating Sweetie like a young child annoying.

07. Parental Glideance (Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash, Wonderbolts)

Scootaloo is shocked to learn that Rainbow didn't tell her parents that she became a Wonderbolt. When they come back into her life and embarrass her with over-enthusiastic cheering, the reason why becomes clear—except to Scootaloo.
* Hints at Scootaloo's troubled home life.
+ Great comedy, it's neat to finally see Rainbow's parents, and it's surprisingly emotional.
– Rainbow Parents being embarrassing counts as cringe humor for some.

08. Hard to Say Anything [SONG] (Big Macintosh, Cutie Mark Crusaders)
The Crusaders discover that Big Mac has a crush on Sugar Belle (season 5's "The Cutie Map") and help him win her heart.
* Big Mac starts dating Sugar Belle here.
+ "Battle for Sugar Belle" is a fun song, and it works as a sufficient summary of the episode. Big Mac's love rival, Feather Bangs, is hilarious, and some meta-humor comes from him having the same voice actor as Flash Sentry from Equestria Girls.
– Padded, and Sugar Belle herself gets surprisingly little focus, given the show.

09. Honest Apple (Applejack, Rarity)
Rarity has Applejack judge a fashion competition for some reason, and she's bad at it.
+ Fun new side characters, with a standout scene where Applejack meets a pony who hates apples. Rarity has a fantastic scene that you can find by searching for "mlp honest apple guitar rarity".
– Rarity is an idiot. Applejack is an idiot and a jerk. Cringe humor from Applejack destroying the dresses she's judging.

10. A Royal Problem (Starlight Glimmer, Celestia, Luna, Twilight Sparkle)

The Map sends Starlight alone to Canterlot, where she discovers growing tension between Celestia and Luna. Starlight switches their cutie marks, taking drastic action to straighten things out before Nightmare Moon or something even worse appears.
* Map episode for Starlight.
+ Great comedy. Large chunks of the episode are from Luna and Celestia's perspectives, and they're really interesting. Celestia's section in particular has something that threw the fandom into a frenzy. Twilight is intensely adorable here.
– If you don't like Starlight forcing her magic onto others, then I have bad news.

11. Not Asking for Trouble (Pinkie Pie, Rutherford, Mane Six)
Pinkie visits the Yaks. Their village is covered by an avalanche, but they refuse help.
+ Pinkie is presented well, there's a fun alternate art style sequence, and Yak worldbuilding starts out interesting...
– ... But then you wonder how the Yaks possibly survived this long.

12. Discordant Harmony (Discord, Fluttershy)

Discord invites Fluttershy to his realm for a tea party, but he worries that she won't be comfortable there and tries to make everything normal. But what happens when a spirit of chaos isn't chaotic?
* First Discord episode to not be about him being a jerk.
+ The last third of this episode, when Fluttershy visits, is absolutely fantastic. Pinkie also has a brief but nice scene.
– It turns out Discord talking to himself just isn't that interesting, and that takes up most of the episode.

13. The Perfect Pear [SONG] (Apple Family)

After the mysterious Grand Pear returns to Ponyville, the Apple Siblings wonder why the Apples hate the Pears so much. They talk to several ponies to learn the story of their father, Bright Mac, and the mother they knew as Buttercup, but was born Pear Butter. Grand Pear is voiced by William Shatner of Star Trek fame, and Pear Butter is voiced by actress Felicia Day.
* Closest thing yet to confirmation that the Apple Parents are dead.
+ We finally see the Apple Parents. Very sweet episode, for the flashback love story, the present day story of the siblings learning about their parents, and the resolution. It's also interesting to see various characters when they were younger, including Granny Smith.
– The Apple Parents meet as creepy talking babies.

14. Fame and Misfortune [SONG] (Twilight Sparkle, Mane Six, Starlight Glimmer)
[IMAGE]
Twilight decides to publish the Friendship Journal (from season 4) and is horrified when everyone ignores the lessons inside to instead argue about who the best and worst ponies are.
+ Hilarious episode with many meta qualities and several standout scenes, including a fantastic song.
– The scenes don't coalesce well, making it unclear what viewers are supposed to get out of it. People wondered if it was supposed to be an anti-fan episode, but the show crew insists it isn't. Despite the ending, the events of this episode never come up again.

15. Triple Threat (Spike, Ember, Thorax, Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer)
[IMAGE]
Spike accidentally invited Ember and Thorax to Ponyville at the same time. Fearing they won't get along, he tries to attend to them both without letting the other know. Making matters worse, the Map calls Spike to fix a friendship problem in Ponyville.
* Map episode for Spike. Thorax's leadership problems are followed up in episode 17.
+ Every character but Spike is great, with tons of fun interactions. Ember in particular stands out with her inability to tell ponies apart. Includes a really cute Twilight moment.
– Spike assumes Ember and Thorax won't get along for no reason at all and Twilight just goes along with him.

16. Campfire Tales (Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Cutie Mark Crusaders)
While stuck in a cave, the older ponies share their favorite legends of Rockhoof, Mistmane, and Flash Magnus.
* Introduces three of the Pillars of Equestria.
+ The legends are fun, particularly the last two.
– Compared to season 1's "Cutie Mark Chronicles", the legends don't connect to the framing device well and don't say much about the characters telling them.
– Has flying spiders.

17. To Change a Changeling (Starlight Glimmer, Trixie, Thorax)
Starlight and Trixie try to help Thorax convince his brood brother, Pharynx, to transform like the other Changelings have.
+ It's interesting to see how Changeling society works now, and Pharynx was a well-liked character.
– Starlight and Trixie barely help, and events largely would have played out the same without them.

18. Daring Done (Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Daring Do)
Rainbow learns that Daring Do is retiring and tries to convince her not to.
* Introduces a Pillar of Equestria, Somnambula.
+ The legend of Somnambula is interesting, and she has a great design.
– Dash ignores ponies' reasons for disliking Daring because she's just awesome, Daring is very passive, it turns out everyone was falling for a dumb trick by Dr. Cabelleron, and the legend barely connects to the episode.

19. It Isn't the Mane Thing About You (Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Mane Six, Zecora, Starlight Glimmer)
[IMAGE]
After a Pinkie incident, she and Rarity go to Zecora for a mess remover and shampoo. They mix the two up, resulting in Rarity losing most of her hair. With a photoshoot coming up, Rarity needs a fix fast.
+ Fantastic Rarity episode showcasing both her drama and what makes her a good person. Includes a Rarity look that made the fandom go wild.
– Contrived revelation that magic can't grow manes.

20. A Health of Information (Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle, Zecora)
Zecora is infected with a horrifying disease, and feeling at fault, Fluttershy searches for a cure.
* Introduces a Pillar of Equestria, Mage Meadowbrook.
+ Great showcase of Fluttershy's character, as she becomes so focused on helping that she loses track of her own health.
– The disease is so horrible that a lesson about remembering to take care of yourself feels quaint. Twilight comes off as oddly unconcerned about Zecora as a result.

21. Marks and Recreation [SONG] (Cutie Mark Crusaders)
The Crusaders hold a camp to help ponies get their cutie marks, but one colt decides life is better without one and stages a revolt.
+ Good song. Features unexpected uses of previously background characters.
– This method of gaining cutie marks seems to contradict everything the Crusaders learned.

22. Once Upon a Zeppelin (Twilight Sparkle, Twilight Family)
Twilight and her family go on a zeppelin cruise, only to discover it was set up by Iron Will (season 2's "Putting Your Hoof Down") as an event for fans to meet Twilight and Cadance.
+ Great Twilight moments, including her having to spend the day with an awkward fan. We get to see her parents, and Iron Will is a lot of fun.
– Twilight having her vacation ruined makes you feel bad for her. Iron Will is now a straight up conman.

23. Secrets and Pies (Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash)
[IMAGE]
After seeing a pie in the trash that looks like one she just gave Rainbow, Pinkie realizes to her horror that she's never actually seen her eat pie. She desperately searches for the truth.
* An episode where Pinkie wants Rainbow to eat her pie.
+ Great Pinkie humor as she goes a bit crazy unraveling the mystery, and a sweet ending.

24. Uncommon Bond (Starlight Glimmer, Sunburst, Twilight Sparkle, Trixie, Maud Pie)
[IMAGE]
Starlight is excited to show Sunburst around Ponyville, but becomes upset when he seems to get along much better with her friends than with her.
* Partially leads into the season finale.
+ Twilight, Trixie, and Maud go on an all-out charm offensive, and Starlight goes a bit crazy.
– The ending doesn't actually address the issues between Starlight and Sunburst.

25-26. Shadow Play
[IMAGE]
Sunburst discovers that Starswirl the Bearded and the other Pillars of Equestria are still alive, trapped between dimensions. Twilight is desperate to release them, but doing so also frees the dreaded Pony of Shadows.

Tales of Canterlot High - Dance Magic [SONG] (Rarity, Humane Seven, Crystal Prep)

Canterlot High needs money fast to pay for repairs at Camp Everfree, and Rarity has the perfect idea: win a music video competition. But preparing for it uses up all the money they built up, and when students from Crystal Prep steal her idea, she feels cornered.
+ A Rarity story that can only be done in Equestria Girls, where she's responsible for the entire group's success, and it's handled well. Has a fun imagination sequence with an alternate art style. The final music video, "Dance Magic", is worth watching on its own.

Tales of Canterlot High - Movie Magic (Humane Seven)

The girls are invited to the set of an upcoming Daring Do movie, where they learn someone is sabotaging production and stealing props.
+ Some fun costumes.
– A story that Scooby Doo would be ashamed of, and it fails as a parody too. Look, I'll just tell you the culprit is the director's niece, Juniper Montage. See image.

Tales of Canterlot High - Mirror Magic (Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer, Humane Seven)

Sunset Shimmer makes a short trip back to Equestria, where she runs into Starlight Glimmer. They become quick friends and go back to the human world for a tour. But forget all that interesting stuff, the girls must face the worst villain in the entire MLP franchise!
+ Great interactions between Sunset and Starlight, both as ponies and as humans. Pinkie has some funny moments.
– The villain is terrible. Seriously. And you can't even watch just the first half of the episode to avoid her, because they intercut the Sunset/Starlight stuff with her scenes.

Equestria Girls - Forgotten Friendship [SONG] (Sunset Shimmer, Trixie, Twilight Sparkle, Celestia)
[IMAGE]
During a beach trip, Sunset discovers that her friends no longer have their good memories of her and think she's still a bully. Understanding what happened will require a trip back to Equestria, and reuniting with Princess Celestia.
+ Generally considered the best Equestria Girls story since Rainbow Rocks. Pony Twilight and Human Trixie are a lot of fun.
– Little is done with Sunset and Celestia reuniting, and the story is less interesting once Sunset returns to the human world.

My Little Pony: the Movie [SONG]
[IMAGE]
When Twilight holds a Friendship Festival, Canterlot is attacked by the forces of the Storm King, led by Tempest Shadow, a unicorn with a broken horn. Twilight and the others are forced to flee outside of Equestria to seek the help of the hippogriffs. They run into colorful characters on the way, but Twilight is convinced that their usual strategy of making friends won't work.
* Events from the Movie are referenced in season 8.
+ The ponies hit the big screen! The 2D animation is fantastic, the new characters are fun, and there are great songs.
+ Tempest in particular is a great and menacing villain.
– New viewers were confused by the setting and the movie largely assumes you're familiar with the Mane Six. For fans, several characters are inexplicably absent or are much weaker than in the show. Of the Mane Six, only Twilight, Pinkie, and Rainbow stand out much.
– The Storm King himself is a very weak villain.
– The great 2D animation is mixed with terrible CGI.

==

Chapter 5 of The Enchanted Kingdom is out

I was surprised that we didn't actually see Twilight and Cadance's meeting. Instead, it cuts to after, and it's a largely relaxed affair with several cute moments. For example, after Twilight looks at her old essays and realizes how bad they are:

If only she could go back in time and prevent her younger—and shockingly less eloquent—self from making so many bad choices.

She looked away from the posters and back to the essay.

But, if I go back and change the past, how will I meet Rarity? she thought, her tail thwapping against the floor. Unless I take her back to the past with me? Hm.

Three knocks at the door interrupted her machinations on how to convince Rarity to go back with her in time, and with the perking up of her ears, she turned towards the door.

I just love the detail of her tail hitting the floor.

And then there's the sequence of Rarity and a changeling disguised as her trying to trick Twilight, which was great. The real one is easy enough to identify, because the real Rarity doesn't use "darling" as much as you'd think, and no one would dare to be as daring as Rarity.

I felt the chapter wasn't that interesting after that point, though, aside from Prof. Awe having his assassination theory proven wrong once and for all. A lot of it was just repeating the first party in this story, including Twilight failing to learn her lesson about eating, though that was cute. Cadance being able to leave the castle after all is interesting. I suppose the only ones saying she can't leave were those who were just going off of Twilight's situation.

... You know, I should really get back to reading The Long Road to Friendship. Still on chapter 11.

I was going to do an art dump, but I don't think I have enough characters left.

SigmasonicX · Mar 1, 2018

New episode announcement
5. Grannies Gone Wild - April 14
Granny Smith and her elderly friends are headed to Las Pegasus, and Rainbow Dash tags along as chaperone so she can ride the best rollercoaster ever before it closes. Unfortunately, following Applejack's care-taking rules for the "Golden Horseshoe Gals" keep Dash so busy, she doubts she'll even get to see the rollercoaster!

It will be interesting to see Rainbow Dash as the responsible one, and I wonder who Granny Smith's friends will be.

Tails of Equestria Movie expansion available in the US now

New FUNdamentals of Magic episode, about Magical Creatures.

Tatzlwurm confirmed to have magic resistant scales. Tatzlwurm vs. mole?

Music
Bunch of music recently I thought was alright.

Cover art for this.
Hydra - Iced Coffee [Melodic Trap] - YouTube

Good cover
PrinceWhateverer & JycRow - Open Up Your Eyes (Cover Ft. Sable Symphony & MantaTsubasa) - YouTube

Sunset, Starlight, and SciTwi themed song
Magic Mirror - The Shake Ups - YouTube

Celestia themed song
just to see you [lo-fi hip hop] - YouTube

I keep forgetting Michelle Creber sings fan songs
Jyc Row feat. Black Gryph0n & Michelle Creber - Flamethrone Legacy (2018 cover) - YouTube

Beatles themed song
Hey! Hey! - The Shake Ups - YouTube

Good remix
Daniel Ingram - You'll Play Your Part (loophoof Remix) - YouTube

Chrysalis themed song
METAL PMV | Love? - YouTube

Took long enough for this to get a remix, and it's good
[MLP:FiM EG PMV] Equestria Girls Summertime Shorts - Coinky-Dink World (DJ Terrum Bootleg Remix) - YouTube

Piano cover
I'm the Friend you Need | MLP The Movie | Piano cover - YouTube

Art
Huge art dump. Will try switching to five images per block.

1.Wallflower Pony by Legadema on DeviantArt
2.MLP RaRa by SHIINAdrawMIKU on DeviantArt - Coloratura
3.Sunnygirl by VanillaGhosties on DeviantArt - Sunset
4.Sunset VS stone by HankOfficer on DeviantArt
5.Velvet from Them's fightin' herds by PassigCamel on DeviantArt

VelvetfromThemsfightinherdsbyPassigCamel1519504165413.jpg

1.Fizzlepop Shadow by AssasinMonkey on DeviantArt
2.CottonCandy Fluff Bean by CutePencilCase on DeviantArt - Pinkie
3.Tempest Shadow by Skitsniga on DeviantArt
4.Random Drawing 37 by MorningBullet on DeviantArt - Fluttershy with penguin
5.[ Redraw ] Fluttershy by adostume on DeviantArt

1.Tian Huo by Imalou on DeviantArt
2.Tianhuo by Aegann on DeviantArt
3.Miami Nights Rarity by LennonBlack on DeviantArt - Punk Rarity
4.Pinkie! :D by FrecklePlant on DeviantArt
5.星川 on Twitter: "サフランマサラも推し… " - Saffron Masala

1.星川 on Twitter: "昨日は七夕でしたね何かお願い事はしましたか？… " - Shining Armor and Cadance
2.星川 on Twitter: "ヘッダー用… " - Pinkie and Link
3.The Boop by OgaraOrCynder on DeviantArt - Pom and Arizona
4.Sunset Pone (Animated) by Szafir87 on DeviantArt
5.Portrait: Tianhuo by pridark on DeviantArt

1.Portrait: Oleander by pridark on DeviantArt
2.Portrait: Pom by pridark on DeviantArt
3.Velvet by LolliponyBrony on DeviantArt
4.Velvet the deer (Them's Fightin' Herds) by Blackligerth on DeviantArt
5.Velvet by DANMAKUMAN on DeviantArt

VelvetthedeerThemsFightinHerdsbyBlackligerth1519772426516.jpg

1.hold ur horse by lilfunkman - Twilight and Rarity
2.| com | Aria the Arcane Duelist and Bard by ArcadianPhoenix on DeviantArt - Rarity
3.The most precious crown by TingSan on DeviantArt - Twilight X King Sombra
4.Them's Fightin' Herds velvet by stratodraw on DeviantArt
5.Fluttershy's Cottege by Auroriia on DeviantArt

comAriatheArcaneDuelistandBardbyArcadianPhoenix1519851030186.png

1.High in the clouds by Camyllea on DeviantArt - Rainbow Dash
2.Pinkie pie by Krrrokozjabrra on DeviantArt
3.Midnight sketch #1 part 2 by Vistamage on DeviantArt - Rainbow
4.Fluttershy Doodle by TheFluffyVixen on DeviantArt
5.Testing animation practice with Clip Studio paint.... by FluffyXai - Twilight

1.Celestia and Filly Twilight by MrPoniator - He's taking down his blog, so I guess he's done for good now.
2.(\(=~=)/) — Pom aka Not Fluttershy. :3cPractice drawing.Drawn... by dsp2003
3.Rarity wearing a shirt by TJPones
4.Rainbow giving Pinkie a present by imalou
5.EQG Rarity by nazonazopowerfu

1.No Regrets (GIF) by FlutterLuv on DeviantArt - Luna and Celestia
2.Teacher Rarity by The-Park on DeviantArt
3..:MAGIC WABBIT:. (Commission) by The-Butcher-X on DeviantArt - EQG Trixie and Bugs Bunny
4.Oleander by ambris
5.Trixie and Starlight by garammasara

1.Blushing Celaeno by kogarasumaru24
2.I'm dying help, I'm so happy to see Them's Fightin' Herds finally... by 8xenon8
3.I'm dying help, more fightin herds doodles by 8xenon8 - More at link
4.Pinkie Pie by koto
5.What do you know about friendship? (PWYW) by ShamziWhite on DeviantArt - Twilight wearing glasses

And still a ton more, but I'll hold off on that.

Comics
Floored Logic by bobthedalek on DeviantArt - Movie comic with Twilight and Tempest

Changelings meme comic by cowsrtasty

Nali · Mar 2, 2018

That weird feeling when someone encourages you to start writing again out of the blue based on the one story you posted six years ago

...about a week and a half after you quietly started writing another story.

Friggin' psychics, man.

SigmasonicX · Mar 2, 2018

Sciz said:
That weird feeling when someone encourages you to start writing again out of the blue based on the one story you posted six years ago

...about a week and a half after you quietly started writing another story.

Friggin' psychics, man.

What was the old story? And who knows, maybe someone saw your fic posts in this thread and decided to see what you wrote.

Nali · Mar 2, 2018

SigmasonicX said:
What was the old story?

Here. I haven't dared go back and read it in the last five years or so, mostly because it's littered with enough pop culture jokes and thinly veiled references that even at the time I felt compelled to write up a blog post admitting to all of them. The core of the story is still fine enough, I think, if rather dated by now, but past me's and current me's standards for fiction are rather different.

SigmasonicX said:
And who knows, maybe someone saw your fic posts in this thread and decided to see what you wrote.

Can't be anyone from around here, unless one of you is quietly a highly prolific but low visibility author who just didn't want to say anything.

The Pet of the Month · Mar 3, 2018

SigmasonicX Once again thank you for the art compilations, they are excellent :)

Sciz said:
Can't be anyone from around here, unless one of you is quietly a highly prolific but low visibility author who just didn't want to say anything.

Anything is possible! ;)

Finally got around to watching "Forgotten Friendships". Really liked it! Loved seeing Sunset Shimmer and Celestia reunite, and watching Twilight freak out over books was hilarious.

Sylvee · Mar 3, 2018

SigmasonicX-Today at 11:04 PM

Dammit, just realized that line from "We'll Make Our Marks" is "an adventure that never will end", not "on a journey that never will end". The thread title is wrong!

Sylvee-Today at 11:09 PM
I had just assumed you had it wrong on purpose

Also the song is called "We'll Make Our Mark."
Didn't know you were such a casual Sigma

Sciz said:
Can't be anyone from around here, unless one of you is quietly a highly prolific but low visibility author who just didn't want to say anything.

............

Have some art:

UberTag-Today at 6:14 PM
I can't imagine it's easy flying with sticky syrup pegasi wings.

Sylvee-Today at 6:21 PM
The true reason why Fluttershy can't fly well revealed

Cappy-Today at 6:23 PM
That's also why she's so sweet.

SigmasonicX · Mar 3, 2018

The Pet of the Month said:
SigmasonicX Once again thank you for the art compilations, they are excellent :)

Anything is possible! ;)

Finally got around to watching "Forgotten Friendships". Really liked it! Loved seeing Sunset Shimmer and Celestia reunite, and watching Twilight freak out over books was hilarious.

Oh hey, I was actually wondering when we'd hear from you again! Assuming you still haven't watched Friendship Games and Legend of Everfree, anything you need clearing up?

Speaking of stuff I was just wondering about, I was thinking about how that one EQG short on the MLP: the Movie DVD still hasn't been put online officially yet, and lo and behold, they just put it up!

It's alright.

I forgot to mention, but last week, they officially uploaded the CYOA short Best Trends Forever, which Sylvee infamously couldn't write a review for because Hasbro took it down before he could rewatch it. It remains my favorite of the set.

==

Another new episode description!
6. Surf and/or Turf - April 21
The Cutie Mark Crusaders try to help a young Hippogriff figure out where he belongs. With family members on Mt. Aris as well as Sea Pony relatives in Seaquestria, he can't decide where to live. Unfortunately, the CMCs are so taken with both places, they can't decide either!

This is the first of the leaked episodes, but the extent of what I know about it was already shown in the officially released preview images. The hippogriffs did spend a lot of time hiding from the Storm King as seaponies, so it makes sense that some of them got accustomed to life that way. Interesting that it resulted in families splitting up. It also sounds like this could be a Map episode for the CMC, but I suppose they could have heard about this guy from the hippogriff at the school.

==

Sunday's stream is Season One Wrap Up!

1. Winter Wrap Up
2. Call of the Cutie
3. Stare Master
4. The Show Stoppers
5. Over a Barrel
6. The Cutie Mark Chronicles
7. The Best Night Ever

Huh, you could also basically call it Cutie Mark Crusaders Day.

And in order to keep track of what's been aired in the stream, I made a spreadsheet.

Sylvee said:
SigmasonicX-Today at 11:04 PM

Dammit, just realized that line from "We'll Make Our Marks" is "an adventure that never will end", not "on a journey that never will end". The thread title is wrong!

Sylvee-Today at 11:09 PM
I had just assumed you had it wrong on purpose

Also the song is called "We'll Make Our Mark."
Didn't know you were such a casual Sigma

Lies and slander! As you can clearly see, the title is now and always has been "An adventure that never will end"!

fony · Mar 3, 2018

SigmasonicX said:
I was referring to on-screen time. The timeskip can be as long as it wants, but we still didn't see much of Twilight and Luna's relationship ourselves.

True. Agree with you there.

SigmasonicX said:
In the GAF thread, Sciz posted a comment from the author confirming that his original plan was for Twilight and Luna to realize that they didn't actually make a good couple

Huh, very interesting. Maybe I cared more about reaching the moon than tha actual ship and just never put enough thought to it.

SigmasonicX said:
There is an in-universe explanation, yes, but from the perspective of the reader, the "Elements of Harmony" come out of nowhere.

Yeah, they definitely came out of nowhere. I think that's at least, in part, the author's point though. In the show, they're this mystical thing whose actual use is a bit unclear. And I think the author's point is that if they were well understood, they'd me much more mundane.

SigmasonicX said:
Yes, the characters in the story accept the arrangement as fair, but I still find it weird.

Yeah, Fluttershy is possibly accepting a bad deal for her orphans there.

SigmasonicX said:
Weird, my quote in your post is different from what I wrote.

Its like all those references about fight club.

SigmasonicX said:
If there isn't a work around, you'll just be posting in the thread and not the chat, then?

I suppose. Looks like the active posters are pretty different in the two though, except on the first few pages. If there's no work around, there's no work around.

1.Celestia and Filly Twilight by MrPoniator - He's taking down his blog, so I guess he's done for good now.

That's too bad. I hope they don't actually delete anything though. Looks like the tumblr is still up http://drrandumb.tumblr.com/[/SPOILER]

The Pet of the Month · Mar 3, 2018

SigmasonicX said:
Oh hey, I was actually wondering when we'd hear from you again! Assuming you still haven't watched Friendship Games and Legend of Everfree, anything you need clearing up?

Sorry I've been a bit busy and was looking for a good opportunity to watch the latest special. While I haven't watched the two movies you mentioned I don't really have much to ask. Still kinda find it funny that they transform into Power Rangers though haha. I'll still get around to those movie though!

The only question I have now is where my season 8 is!

SigmasonicX · Mar 3, 2018

fony said:
I suppose. Looks like the active posters are pretty different in the two though, except on the first few pages.

Yeah, at some point, those who regularly posted in the chat and those who posted in the thread split apart. I didn't even realize there was a chat until October 2017, when I was about to create my own chat. Thanks to EviLore, those who regularly post in the #ponychat room are more or less the same as those in the thread; it's just the #generalchat people who are different.

The Pet of the Month said:
Sorry I've been a bit busy and was looking for a good opportunity to watch the latest special. While I haven't watched the two movies you mentioned I don't really have much to ask. Still kinda find it funny that they transform into Power Rangers though haha. I'll still get around to those movie though!

The only question I have now is where my season 8 is!

Them getting costumes comes from Legend of Everfree, though the particular ones they were wearing are new.

BTW, Equestria Daily has created this guide to all of the Equestria Girls things with links, which should be helpful, though they're missing the Rainbow Rocks and Friendship Games tie-in shorts.

==

Another episode synopsis!

7. Horse Play - April 28, 2018
Princess Celestia's fillyhood dream of being in a play is realized when Twilight Sparkle casts her in production, only to discover Celestia's talents lie elsewhere.

This is a pretty weird episode premise. This is one of the leaked episodes, and one that some people here chose to watch in particular, so I'm sure someone will come in and say it's great or terrible.

==

Art dump.

1.EQG Rarity by bojack_mlplove
2.Ollie and Fred by Waackery on DeviantArt - Oleander from Them's Fightin' Herds
3.Guess who's the lucky bride by Hyperion-Jack on DeviantArt - Pinkie X Applejack
4.Double Princess by Jeremywithlove on DeviantArt - Twilight and Unikitty (from The Lego Movie and her spinoff show, where she's voiced by Tara Strong)
5.Peregrine - Thank you 1000 watchers and followers!!! I had not... - Movie characters; different variations at the link

1.sunnysweetsketch by twilite-sparkleplz on DeviantArt - Sunny Flare and Sour Sweet (EQG Shadowbolts)
2.The Stare by OgaraOrCynder on DeviantArt - Oleander X Velvet
3.Speed Paint - Tianhuo by luminaura on DeviantArt
4.Pinkie throwing pies with Skystar by sugar morning
5.Sonata by xXMarkingXx on DeviantArt

1.Oleander by fizzy-dog
2.Paprika! by fizzy-dog
3.Because I reALLY really hate this one dress that... by overlordneon - Sunset, dress redesign
4.EQG Pinkie hugging Pony Pinkie by akainu7
5.Rarity's "A Hearth's Warming Tail" dress by Goombot

1.Fluttershy hairstyles by Goombot
2.Tempest waking up Twilight by Goombot
3.Twilight and Tempest nuzzling by Goombot
4.Velvet (Animated) by Rodrigues404 on DeviantArt
5.Punk Rarity doodle by Underpable - More sketches at link

1.MARES - Fluttershy by BumbleBun on DeviantArt - Anthro Fluttershy in Mage Meadowbrook outfit
2.Cadance by sibashen
3.Fluttershy by sibashen
4.Mane Six by sibashen
5.With this Pom I go, I'll draw the other three... by fizzy-dog

1.I love Arizona! I guess she's my fave because she... by fizzy-dog
2.Velvet! by fizzy-dog
3.Almost forgot to post Tianhuo! by fizzy-dog
4.Speed Paint - Knitting by luminaura on DeviantArt - Paprika
5.Personality Swap; Fluttershy with Zephyrs personality by funpicturesofponies

1.Fluttershy wetsuit by ponut_joe
2.Faline-art — I liked sketch penk's face so much, I decided to... - Pinkie
3.Pom by Krrrokozjabrra on DeviantArt
4.Rarity ^^ by FrecklePlant on DeviantArt
5.SciTwi with cap by k-nattoh

1.Sweetie Belle by shadowpiratemonkey7
2.Sonata Dusk by Botchan-MLP on DeviantArt
3.[Patreon | 012] - Rarity by Hakunaro on DeviantArt
4.EQG Friendship Power Rarity by kkmr

And finally, a good look at the new official EQG doll art

Comics
It's something — S7E22: Steamed Hams, except it makes Twilight cry. by dstears - Twilight and Spike; the Northern Stars change is in reference to the episode "Once Upon a Zeppelin".

Pinkie and Tempest smiling comic by akainu7

fony · Mar 4, 2018

I just finished Day Dreaming Derpy (alternate link )

Trailer:

It has really cute pixel art all over the place. The story itself is alright but I found the script itself wasn't that great (it isn't full of typos or anything like that mind you). Game play could have been much better. There were only 2-3 challenging spots I think.

I think its intended to be more about the open world and free choices (like uniforms). So it ended up being more about seeing what they'd do next with the pixel art, which was still pretty interesting. They've made all their assets available too which is always nice!