Queen Cassie

While I'm hardly one to think of Celestia as a tyrant, she certainly deserves respect. She's the leader of Equestria and has been for at least one thousand years. While it is sometimes hard to determine just how much power she actually has, either in terms of her authority or her magical ability, one should still give her the respect she deserves. And really, I don't think that the characters have been too respectful or too serious around Princess Celestia. On the contrary, I've often thought they weren't showing enough respect. For instance, during Bird in the Hoof, the Cakes felt more like they were playing host to some intermediate goverment fuctionary than the ageless leader of their nation. So it makes perfect sense to me that they act the way they do around her.

Ponibooru isn't just full of Rule 34, but also all sorts of other art in poor taste, Grimdark, violent imagry I'd rather not see. I never go on there if I can avoid it. I don't go to this MyLittleBrony place either. If I need a real source for some art, I'll check out DeviantArt or Equestria Daily's Drawfriends.

Yes, actually. Quite a few. I know them as a result of meetups here in Colorado.

Out of the Mane Six, I voted for Twilight. Out of the secondary characters, I decided to be safe and vote for the CMCs. Out of the tertiary characters, I voted Derpy, Lyra, and Dr. Whooves. Although I question some of the placement of characters...why is Trixie on the secondary list and Snips and Snails on the tertiary when the latter two have appeared in more episodes, for instance?

Unicorn, no question. Not because I'm under the illusion I would have the breadth of magical ability that Twilight possesses, but because all Unicorns have been shown capable of basic levitation. It's the closest equivalent to hands that the ponies have, and I really like my hands and wouldn't want to give them up for wings or something like that. If it weren't for the hands issue, I would be hard pressed to choose between the three, since I perceive them to each have their own unique talents and strengths beyond the obvious, especially Earth Ponies who are most likely rather industrious and talented with hard work at levels the other two races can't match. Wings would be wonderful in their own way, and of course I would enjoy walking upon clouds. But unfortunately, the hands issue does exist, so I would have to choose Unicorn by default.

This is a difficult question to answer. I do love my immediate family, because I get along rather well with them and I know they care about me, and love and tolerate me and all that stuff. But I don't have much beyond that. Oh, sure, I'm educating myself at college, working on getting a career, but I don't have much in the way of friends. Not many things here make me happy. And while I would miss a number of things about Earth...plenty of things, to say the least...I think life in Equestria would make me happier. Even though Equestria probably isn't QUITE as perfect as it seems sometimes in the show(there probably are ponies who commit crimes, and a bunch of other stuff along those lines) it's still better in many ways. I would prefer to stay human, however. I like my hands too much, and I really don't want to be a pony. I'd want to be myself. I'd also like the chance to say goodbye, set my affairs in order, etc before leaving. I wouldn't want to just make it a sudden event for my family. They deserve to know where I'd be going. So long as I can get those conditions met, I would go to Equestria, and live my life, however it turns out.

There are plenty of shows, books, movies, and other types of media that have never updated that still possess communities twenty, thirty, forty years after they were first published. In particuar, considering the sort of creative frenzy this show has driven the fandom into, how large its grown, and the basic message of friendship the show carries, I think that communities for the show will last long after it ends. It's already too beloved for that not to occur, even if the fandom dwindles to a mere fraction of what it is now. The show has already had a major impact on my quality of life. I won't be abandoing my love for it for a long time, if ever.

The Sisterhooves Special poster seems more like an anomoly. In Family Appreciation Day, Granny Smith and Apple Bloom sing part of the alphabet when hopping around the water cans. We've also seen several times, when catching sight of pieces of letters being written, names or other text in English. So for the most part it seems to be that they speak and write English.

I may have to check it out then. I'm open to changing my mind on my feelings regarding Rarijack, after all. If it can be proven to work, then I'd be fine with it.

I don't do much in the way of real shipping, though since there's nothing canonical that prevents it, I'll read some stories from time to time, and I do find a lot of the shipping art(that isn't rule 34 stuff) rather cute and adorable. If I had a favorite pairing, it would probably be Twilight and Pinkie. I know, I know, that's unusual, bizarre even, but I like it, because I think it's an intriguing mixture of opposites and similarities, where they can complement each other's strengths and bolster each other's weaknesses, that sort of thing. I'm also somewhat fond of Appledash. If there's any pairing I dislike, it's Rarijack, because I feel it's intrinsically unworkable.

Do guns freely exist in Equestria? No, I don't think so. Equestria is too peaceful, too kind and gentle a place to need much in the way of weaponry. The technology for it, however, is most certainly there. When you examine all the technologies we see in the show, you can see that the general technological level of Equestria is around the turn of the 20th century, with some things a bit more advanced--we see plastic soap bottles and pill bottles, for instance, as well as X-rays. So while I doubt there are guns being toted around anywhere, I do believe they're capable of producing them if they need to. They just have no reason to do so.

Being as I'm almost twenty-five, I'm definitely a bit older than some other fans of the show, though the age groups of bronies is so mixed. I don't really hide my interest in the show or anything...I've already gotten my little brother(who's almost eighteen) into the show, for instance. As you can see by my signature, I do write some fanfiction.

Late October, 2011. I'd heard about the show for months prior to that, of course. How could I not, when the fandom was everywhere on the internet? But I refused to look at it. I'd strongly disliked the previous generations of the My Little Pony shows, and given the nature of most of the images I saw, I felt like it was a meme. Like some people took pictures from the show just to pass around, without actually being fans. I didn't see the quality of the show. Even when friends of mine at a private forum I used to go to started talking about the show and expressing that they honestly enjoyed it, I refused to look at it, because it had gotten to the point where it was so prevelant that I felt it was a fad. So many fads I've tried out in the past I've ended up disliking. I needed stronger motivation. I got it when I watched a review of the show by SFDebris, of all people. For those unaware of who he is, SFDebris does reviews primarily of Star Trek and other science fiction. A review of the show was included in his "WTF Week" he did in late October. I was amazed, bemused, and surprised that he would even look at the show, let alone give it the sort of in-depth review he usually does, with all of his biting sarcasm and amusing--if often crude--wit. The review was positive, glowing even. SFDebris did state he wasn't a brony at the end of it, but he praised the quality of the show and said that more children's television should be like it. He also informed me of a fact I had been previously unaware of, that of Lauren Faust's involvement with the show. I've enjoyed many of the shows Lauren Faust has worked on in the past, especially the Powerpuff Girls, which were created by her husband, Craig McCracken. Hearing that was the motivation I needed to try out the show. I started watching late at night, when I was in a bad mood, so initially the pilot two parter didn't impress me much, especially since I already knew the plot details from the review SFDebris did. While I identified with Twilight, and liked Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, I didn't much care for the other three, especially Pinkie, who felt like an obnoxious twit. But still, I kept watching in order. And watching....and watching. And as the hours passed, and night faded into day, then nearing night again, me up for thirty six hours or more, with a signifcant amount of that time spent watching ponies, my mood changed. Characters rapidly became liked, even beloved. Applejack, whom I initially disliked for her accent(because I have a lot of issues with my Southern relatives) only took a couple of episodes, with Applebuck Season cementing my like for her. Rarity didn't take much longer, since she quickly demonstrated that the reason I initially disliked her(a belief that she was a stuck up rich jerk) was not only mistaken, but absolutely foolish. Pinkie Pie did take the longest, I'll admit. My initial comments on another forum when I first started watching were to tell her to shut up, only with a few choice expletives mixed in. When I watched Party of One, though? That was the episode that made me love her too, because I understood everything she went through in that episode, and managed to identify with her. Since then I've come to like the things I initially disliked about her. Even the show's theme song became loved. I initially skipped past the intro of each episode because that first "My little pony..." line brought forward so many bad memories of the previous shows and my disgust for them that I had to skip past it, or else I couldn't watch. It took most of the first season before that feeling changed, but changed it did. The music of this show helped significantly in that regard...my jaw had to be scraped off the floor when I first heard Winter Wrap-Up. The newest episode out when I started watching was The Cutie Pox, and I watched the entire show up to that point in a couple of days, so unlike a lot of the fandom I didn't have expectations or beliefs about certain characters. For instance, I had no idea how the fandom perceived Luna until well after Luna Eclipsed. What I've been enjoying about this show is, as I stated in my introduction post, the uplifting and cheerful nature of it. I have Borderline Personality Disorder, so I suffer from depression, anxiety, and a bucket load of poor self-esteem and little confidence. Winters are especially rough for me, but this one so far has been one of the best of my life. Being a fan of this show hasn't just been helping my mood, but has made me more confident, more bold, more eager to seek real friendships. Heck, I've been going to several meetups of fans here in Colorado and forming friends amongst the Colorado Bronies, in the sort of way I never thought I would do. I only have one regret about watching this show...that I didn't start watching sooner. Late October, 2011. I'd heard about the show for months prior to that, of course. How could I not, when the fandom was everywhere on the internet? But I refused to look at it. I'd strongly disliked the previous generations of the My Little Pony shows, and given the nature of most of the images I saw, I felt like it was a meme. Like some people took pictures from the show just to pass around, without actually being fans. I didn't see the quality of the show. Even when friends of mine at a private forum I used to go to started talking about the show and expressing that they honestly enjoyed it, I refused to look at it, because it had gotten to the point where it was so prevelant that I felt it was a fad. So many fads I've tried out in the past I've ended up disliking. I needed stronger motivation. I got it when I watched a review of the show by SFDebris, of all people. For those unaware of who he is, SFDebris does reviews primarily of Star Trek and other science fiction. A review of the show was included in his "WTF Week" he did in late October. I was amazed, bemused, and surprised that he would even look at the show, let alone give it the sort of in-depth review he usually does, with all of his biting sarcasm and amusing--if often crude--wit. The review was positive, glowing even. SFDebris did state he wasn't a brony at the end of it, but he praised the quality of the show and said that more children's television should be like it. He also informed me of a fact I had been previously unaware of, that of Lauren Faust's involvement with the show. I've enjoyed many of the shows Lauren Faust has worked on in the past, especially the Powerpuff Girls, which were created by her husband, Craig McCracken. Hearing that was the motivation I needed to try out the show. I started watching late at night, when I was in a bad mood, so initially the pilot two parter didn't impress me much, especially since I already knew the plot details from the review SFDebris did. While I identified with Twilight, and liked Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, I didn't much care for the other three, especially Pinkie, who felt like an obnoxious twit. But still, I kept watching in order. And watching....and watching. And as the hours passed, and night faded into day, then nearing night again, me up for thirty six hours or more, with a signifcant amount of that time spent watching ponies, my mood changed. Characters rapidly became liked, even beloved. Applejack, whom I initially disliked for her accent(because I have a lot of issues with my Southern relatives) only took a couple of episodes, with Applebuck Season cementing my like for her. Rarity didn't take much longer, since she quickly demonstrated that the reason I initially disliked her(a belief that she was a stuck up rich jerk) was not only mistaken, but absolutely foolish. Pinkie Pie did take the longest, I'll admit. My initial comments on another forum when I first started watching were to tell her to shut up, only with a few choice expletives mixed in. When I watched Party of One, though? That was the episode that made me love her too, because I understood everything she went through in that episode, and managed to identify with her. Since then I've come to like the things I initially disliked about her. Even the show's theme song became loved. I initially skipped past the intro of each episode because that first "My little pony..." line brought forward so many bad memories of the previous shows and my disgust for them that I had to skip past it, or else I couldn't watch. It took most of the first season before that feeling changed, but changed it did. The music of this show helped significantly in that regard...my jaw had to be scraped off the floor when I first heard Winter Wrap-Up. The newest episode out when I started watching was The Cutie Pox, and I watched the entire show up to that point in a couple of days, so unlike a lot of the fandom I didn't have expectations or beliefs about certain characters. For instance, I had no idea how the fandom perceived Luna until well after Luna Eclipsed. What I've been enjoying about this show is, as I stated in my introduction post, the uplifting and cheerful nature of it. I have Borderline Personality Disorder, so I suffer from depression, anxiety, and a bucket load of poor self-esteem and little confidence. Winters are especially rough for me, but this one so far has been one of the best of my life. Being a fan of this show hasn't just been helping my mood, but has made me more confident, more bold, more eager to seek real friendships. Heck, I've been going to several meetups of fans here in Colorado and forming friends amongst the Colorado Bronies, in the sort of way I never thought I would do. The show has also inspired me to create and write again. I set aside writing some time ago because I never felt like I could do it well enough for it to be worthwhile. The show gave me the confidence to try again, and my writing has been improving by leaps and bounds as a result. I may eventually try my hand at creating some pony art with Inkscape as well...probably not much more than basic vectors and so on, but still, it'd be something to try. I only have one regret about watching this show: I didn't start watching sooner.

I've never much thought that they have real religions in the same sense as we do. The influence from Celestia's long life, if anything, has resulted in something more...paganistic, so to speak. It's not the word I want but it's the closest I can think of, since I mean that they stick more to a philosophy than a true religion. They have beliefs, and they have sacred ceremonies and so on, but I don't think many of them actually view Celestia as a goddess or anything like that. Primarily because they've never given her that sort of reverence. Even at the Summer Sun Celebration we saw in Twilight's Cutie Mark story, it seemed more like Celestia was going through a role, leading a ceremony rather than being worshipped. The way the Mane Six interact with the Princess throughout various episodes also demonstrates that while they respect her as royalty, they don't worship her. Notice too how the Cakes acted in Bird in the Hoof, where they were almost a bit too informal even when it comes to royalty. It meshes with the notion I've had that Celestia and Luna aren't immortal. They live long lives, and may in fact never die of old age, but they're not invulnerable, perfect beings. Celestia always has guards around, for instance, in a way that strikes me as odd unless she really does need them. True, they could be ceremonial...but I doubt it.

I take issue with a number of aspects of the episode, but the episode in terms of its humor and actual writing was fairly funny, and I do appreciate that they lampshaded the whole "They're a Pegasus and a Unicorn" thing in such a clear cut manner. It was a direct nod from the writers saying that "We know this is silly. You're in for a silly episode." The things about the episode that bothered me were mostly things that, admittedly, are more gags than anything else, so I'm not going to go into much detail.

When I originally heard about this episode, I was hoping--rather vainly, I knew--that it would be something highly dramatic, featuring all of the Mane Six in different ways, on different dates or something like that. Perhaps some nods towards homosexuality, even if tackling that subject would be...difficult at best, given the censorship of such subjects in children's television in the United States. While I'll still hold some hope for a hint of Appledash or something like that, I'm not going to hold my breath. The actual premise of the episode sounds like it will be fairly amusing and that it could go in a number of different ways. It also reminds me rather strongly of an episode of The Powerpuff Girls, where the girls tried and succeeded--initially--in getting Professor Utonium and Ms. Keane together. They ended up breaking up at the end of the episode. Perosnally I hope that doesn't happen for Cheerilee and Big Mac. If status quo must be preserved, I'd prefer they not get together at all, in ways where the CMCs fail spectacularly at being Cutie Mark Crusader Matchmakers.

While I like Rainbow Dash, I'm starting to feel like she's almost getting too many episodes this season, similar to the CMCs. It's not a bad thing to have a Rainbow Dash episode, but when it starts to exclude other ponies like Fluttershy and Applejack... Still, I believe this episode will be a good one. I'm hoping for a subtle Reading Rainbow joke and Twilight becoming closer friends with Dashie as a result of their shared love for books.

The fact that the contest within this episodes threatens Sweet Apple Acres itself makes me highly suspicious. What could have led to this sort of threat? Was it Applejack boasting like crazy and signing a contract like a fool? If that happens I will be rather upset because that seems woefully out of character for Applejack. No, as I speculated in the episode fourteen thread, I think this episode and the one before it have some connection, the events of this one being the consequence of the events of the previous one.

The real question I'm pondering is, why does she disappear? Where did she go? Is she searching for something, such as a sign of her parents? Could this episode actually be related to the next one, where it seems like there's a possibility of her losing the farm, something that happens as a consequence of the events of this episode? The mystery intrigues me.