Here's the thing...Moondancer blames Twilight and you're correct that's not fair, and that her reaction to Twilight not showing is over the top and not exactly logical...But the thing is, our minds don't exactly run on pure logic, there's a lot of emotion involved. Why does Moondancer have to be justified for us to empathize with her, instead of just recognizing she's hurting really bad because she feels like a friend abandoned her? Maybe that's not exactly what "Really" happened but our views of reality are always colored by our subjective experiences. Moondancer seems like a pretty insecure pony in general, to somepony else more healthy this event might not have been a big deal but to Moondancer it was soul crushing. Twilight didn't necessarily do anything wrong here, considering the Nightmare Moon threat I'd even argue she did the right thing...but every action, right or wrong or neutral has consequences on the people around us.

 As for Twilight not remembering her names, you're right they weren't really her "Friends" in the past, maybe acquaintances or whatever. The thing is, the Twilight of today now sees the value of friendship and thus retroactively considers those ponies her friends. The entire point is to show how she didn't value friendship much back then but does so now, and thus her view of them is changed.

Hi there, @BastementSparkle, thanks for the comment.

Why does Moondancer have to be justified for us to empathize with her, instead of just recognizing she's hurting really bad because she feels like a friend abandoned her?

As I said before, I don't necessarily think anyone is wrong for empathizing with MD. But I personally cannot, since I don't think her hurt is 1. Twilight's fault and 2. enough of an excuse to turn into a hermit. She even turned her back on the exact same ponies who she herself admits as making her more social and who were clearly trying their best to be her friends. Those actions she took of her own free will. To blame Twilight for them is an injustice. It's in some respects as if one were blaming a celebrity for the actions of a stalker.

...but every action, right or wrong or neutral has consequences on the people around us.

If that had been the clear message of the episode, I wouldn't complain (as much as I do  ). The fact is, Twilight's action of not attending MD's party is clearly cast as the wrong decision in the context of this episode, and the message becomes unclear precisely because that decision is focused on so much. It's plain bad writing, and it should be called out, no matter how effective it is on a person emotionally.

I'd also be interested on hearing your (or anyone's) thoughts regarding what I've alluded to as the "emotional manipulation" of the writers. 

I agree with most of this.

Going back to the event, Twiight lacked empathy for Moondancer, and indeed her other classmates; we see that also in Episode One Ponyville (in the party scene that ends with Twi holding a pillow over her head and declaring all the other ponies in town are crazy) and of course Twinkleshine's line is spot on.

Moondancer clearly had similar problems; her unhealthy focus on Twi's non-attendence indicates that she DID see Twi as a friend, but of course that would seem in retrospect to be pretty one-sided, and she must not have felt the same about her other classmates given her withdrawal and rejection of them after the party incident.

So, while Twi did nothing wrong, or out of character for her, she also was responsible for the hurt Moondancer felt; that THAT was largely Moondancer's own doing (and created from whole cloth in Moondancer's head) doesn't mean it hurt less.

So, to contrast with the lesson of "forgotten friendship" - maybe it's not good enough to NOT be mean to someone - maybe you have to be nice. As Spike pointed out, as Princess of Friendship, Twilight is now holding herself to a higher standard, and her actions back in Canterlot clearly didn't meet that higher standard. Clearly also Pinkie would easily make a better Princess of Friendship than Twi does

So, if we distinguish between "old Twilight" and "new Twilight" (hopefully with less violence than a "new Fluttershy") then "old Twilight" did nothing wrong, by her own standards, but *was* a bad friend. "New Twilight" by contrast strives to be a good friend and a better, more empathic pony, so it is only right that she tackles this "Friendship Problem" in canterlot, without being pushed there by the Table.  It is her duty to fix this, even if she wasn't "wrong" when she did it.

@CypherHoof You make some good points, there.

3 hours ago, Sunny Fox said:

Hi there, @BastementSparkle, thanks for the comment.

Why does Moondancer have to be justified for us to empathize with her, instead of just recognizing she's hurting really bad because she feels like a friend abandoned her?

As I said before, I don't necessarily think anyone is wrong for empathizing with MD. But I personally cannot, since I don't think her hurt is 1. Twilight's fault and 2. enough of an excuse to turn into a hermit. She even turned her back on the exact same ponies who she herself admits as making her more social and who were clearly trying their best to be her friends. Those actions she took of her own free will. To blame Twilight for them is an injustice. It's in some respects as if one were blaming a celebrity for the actions of a stalker.

...but every action, right or wrong or neutral has consequences on the people around us.

If that had been the clear message of the episode, I wouldn't complain (as much as I do  ). The fact is, Twilight's action of not attending MD's party is clearly cast as the wrong decision in the context of this episode, and the message becomes unclear precisely because that decision is focused on so much. It's plain bad writing, and it should be called out, no matter how effective it is on a person emotionally.

I'd also be interested on hearing your (or anyone's) thoughts regarding what I've alluded to as the "emotional manipulation" of the writers. 

It was of Moondancer's own free will to turn into a hermit, yes. But you're still looking at this event through an objective lens, not an emotional one. This was apparently the first time Moondancer had ever put herself out there and done something like throw a party, and Twilight, the pony she seems to have considered herself closest to, didn't show up. Moondancer's best friend didn't show up to her first ever party, and left Canterlot for years without even a single goodbye. That's all Moondancer sees. Moondancer was seemingly a social recluse who didn't think she "Had any value" until her other three friends started to convince her she did, she didn't even think anypony would want to be her friend. The kind of person who sees themselves as not having value in the first place is going to be easy to hurt, they're likely going to look at every interaction and event and see the worst parts more than the good.

 The only ponies in the episode who treat Twilight's decision as the "Wrong" one are Moondancer who is biased and has her view clouded by her own emotions, and Twilight herself who is feeling guilty for hurting somepony and being harsh on herself. Nopony else ever tries to say she did the wrong thing, just those two. As @CypherHoof says, Twilight is judging herself and her past actions by her current standards and views which are very different. I don't think the episode is written manipulatively because it never tries to hide the fact that previous Twi wasn't a very sociable pony, it spends the entire episode trying to show us just how different the current Twilight is from her pre-season 1 self.

16 hours ago, BastementSparkle said:

It was of Moondancer's own free will to turn into a hermit, yes. But you're still looking at this event through an objective lens, not an emotional one. This was apparently the first time Moondancer had ever put herself out there and done something like throw a party, and Twilight, the pony she seems to have considered herself closest to, didn't show up. Moondancer's best friend didn't show up to her first ever party, and left Canterlot for years without even a single goodbye. That's all Moondancer sees. Moondancer was seemingly a social recluse who didn't think she "Had any value" until her other three friends started to convince her she did, she didn't even think anypony would want to be her friend. The kind of person who sees themselves as not having value in the first place is going to be easy to hurt, they're likely going to look at every interaction and event and see the worst parts more than the good.

I don't really disagree with this, and it's why I can't bring myself to take Moon Dancer's side. She's wrong to blame Twilight for her own emotional weakness, but the episode tries to make out that she is in the right for doing so. I understand why MD feels the way she does, I just don't think it's admirable or pitiable.

16 hours ago, BastementSparkle said:

The only ponies in the episode who treat Twilight's decision as the "Wrong" one are Moondancer who is biased and has her view clouded by her own emotions, and Twilight herself who is feeling guilty for hurting somepony and being harsh on herself. Nopony else ever tries to say she did the wrong thing, just those two. As @CypherHoof says, Twilight is judging herself and her past actions by her current standards and views which are very different. I don't think the episode is written manipulatively because it never tries to hide the fact that previous Twi wasn't a very sociable pony, it spends the entire episode trying to show us just how different the current Twilight is from her pre-season 1 self.

The writers are saying Twilight was wrong, and I find it a pretty horrible moral. A few changes to the script, such as I've explored before, would have gone a long way to preventing that, for me. The writing (at points, not all the time, of course) still seems manipulative to me, particularly with the editing of the flashback, and the deliberate retcons.

I get what the writers were going for. I just think they botched it. Other fans think they nailed it perfectly, and they're entitled to that opinion. At any rate, I've already dedicated three blog posts to this episode (might be a new record ) so at this point, I've said what I wanted to. You're free (as is everyone) to comment further, of course. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, it has been an interesting debate.

Honestly, I agree entirely. And looking at it "through Moondancer's perspective" makes it worse and not better, because the episode is then saying that Twilight should validate Moondancer's chronic insecurity and approve of it making Moondancer lash out at her.

Yes, it IS nice to help somebody like Moondancer - with actual help, not by condescendingly telling them they should never have had to deal with a common, reasonable disappointment that reasonable people have to deal with all the time. Not by telling them that their friends should/will always protect their ego from such blows. That's just you making yourself feel better by telling them what they want to hear (probably making their problem worse). And I'm worried that's the secret to this episode's appeal.