Steel Accord

I KNOW! This is the least judgmental internet group ever! We're all totally live and let live. I posted a thread about just that. (Pony Romance, if you are wondering.) Give it a look, I'm not an expert, but I think my stance is at least sound. That said. For me it can be hit or miss. There's a fine line between completely humanizing them and actually removing the features that make them who they are, and retaining their attractive qualities across species. One who's particularly easy to do this with is Rarity. Compare: and this one. The second picture is obviously an exaggeration of what a human being looks like, but that actually makes it closer to Rarity than the first picture. The ponies we know have pronounced human qualities to make them identifiable with the human audience. If you make a perfect human translation, they loose their charm and uniqueness. (Oh! And your welcome! )

If you haven't already. Check out my thread for "Pony Romance" I have a theory, that extends to both their appearance and personality. Twilight is very cute. ("Cute" in THAT sense. I feel the need to specify that here.) I have very much in common with her and wouldn't mind someone like her as a girlfriend. (Plus did you see her in her gala dress? Wow! And let's not forget that she sure can rock those glasses and hair bun!)

As much as I may find the implications of that . . . unsettling. I can't help but admire him for taking tragedy and grief and doing something good with it. (Instead of becoming Dolphin Dude, in the vein of Batman.)

He pretty much already HAD conquered the world. Ponyville was just the beginning.Discord: These are only some of my FIRST changes! Same here pretty much. I like Q from Star Trek, the biggest difference is Q wants them to win. (Even if dozens have to die, he considers it a slap on the wrist.) Discord has no such standards, his schemes have no greater purpose other than his own amusement. I can see his appeal, I just can't NOT see what he really is. Riley: That. Was. Brilliant.

Count yourself lucky that's the worst you could think of. Probably not "child friendly" but Discord could have turned Pinkie's lungs into balloons, Rarity sewn INTO her creations, Rainbow's wings turned to paper or metal (or both!), and you know the worm that eats the inside of an apple? . . . . I think you know where I'm going with that one. . . . I don't what's scarier. The things I just wrote, that Discord was fully capable of all of them should the mood strike him, or that they came from my head!

Let's not forget the ballerina buffalo, Big Mac dog, a pony walking along the edges of the screen! Discord's reign was loads of laughs . . . I'm still glad it ended before Discord got *gulp* . . . bored.

Nothing wrong with that. There's no denying how adorable she is, but some just don't see much in her personality. Different strokes for different folks.

Are those your weapons? Or are you just happy to meet your demise? Have at thee, devotee of Abaddon!

I know! I was being partially serious. If they were able to sneak a sort of meta joke into a villain maybe they could do it again! (Not holding my breath, but it would be cool.) Who knows? Maybe they'll resurrect Tirec from the original Midnight Castle. It would breathe life into an old villain that both bronies and kids might not be familiar with, AND be the biggest continuity shout out since . . .Sokka: "Airbending slice!" Plus! If you wanna talk about upping the ante past what even Discord did, there's no one better to use. Much of what Discord did could still be played off as silly before he got bored with just being irksome and wanted to hear some screaming. With Tirec, you KNOW shit's gonna get dark the moment he's on screen! Oh boy. Another cultist pony. *draws wing-swords*

Platonic? I actually think I would be good friends with Fancypants. I tend to develop good relations with older gentlemen, whom I view as mentor figures and they see me as something of a protege. Fancypants possesses many qualities that I find admirable in myself, with the addition of being a confident and powerful man. He's considerate, open minded, entrepreneurial, cultured, and gentlemanly. I would like to think he would hire me as a bodyguard and we would become good friends from there. Among the Mane 6, I'd have to say Twilight. I wouldn't mind being "more" either but we have a lot in common. I was also once a studious shut-in. I have some difficulties in social situations, and trouble making friends. I prize knowledge so I try to cram as much as I can in, but this means I have greatly detailed generalized knowledge but very little in the way of specialization. Until recently, I was so duty focused, I didn't even think of my own happiness at all on a checklist. My only real sense of kinship has always come from teachers and mentors who were a good many years my senior. Sound familiar? It should.

You're telling me! What's next? Armor bound imps so full of hate they are obviously the Daleks? Or a disembodied overlord with a pair of giant flaming eyes that needs the Elements of Harmony to become physical again?

Same here all the way. I hate Discord's guts, yet I can't help but appreciate what he gave the show. A convincing, threatening, and entertaining villain.

That it does. Which is why I agree with my Dad in saying the religion's leaders should have their own modern version of the Council of Nicaea and decide what of the Prophet Muhammad's teachings are truly moral enough to follow. My muslim friend, who was born and raised in Pennsylvania like me, said something to the effect that the greatest jihad is simply living well. I don't see anything wrong with that. You are right about one thing. BLIND faith is a very bad thing! Growing up, the Priest's and my family actually encouraged me to question my faith, to keep my beliefs honest and consistent with what was right instead of just being an iron doctrine. Creation vs. Evolution? I say BOTH are true. God created the Earth in just the right astronomical conditions to support life. (distance from the sun, water to support carbon based organisms, magnetic field to shield us from radiation etc.) Adam and Eve's banishment from Eden could have just been a metaphor for humanity's evolution to intelligent thought. (The Tree of Knowledge much?) With knowledge enough to make tools and such also comes a concept of morality, of good AND evil. We evolved from the innocence of instinct into the light and harshness of sentience. The Laws of Physics? God's rule book of how reality works! We don't invent them, we're discovering what's already there! All of reality is like a giant puzzle that God/Allah/The Force/The Flying Spheghettis Monster/ whatever you wanna call it gave us to solve. If reality were truly random, it would be like Discord's rule, we wouldn't be able to make a mathematical system that could decipher it. Science and Religion. I pity those that restrict themselves to either, the world is so much more wonderful when you can see through heaven's eyes with a microscope! "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind." ~Albert Einstein My idea is that Celestia and Luna are venerated as goddesses. See Rainbow's "In the name of Celstia." and Rarity's "with Celestia as my witness" three guesses what "Celestia" is standing in for in those quotes. Her subjects kneel before her, maybe I'm not wise in the ways of royal conduct, but I always thought it was a bow at most. Deities ruling a country? The concept is an interesting one as it is often negative, but not so in this case obviously. Ancient gods were used to explain how the world works, but the ponies already control much of it on their own and as Twilight has shown, have dedicated a good amount of scientific study as to HOW they do this. Celestia, in my mind, is venerated as a goddess for the same reason one should a deity. Not because she moves a giant ball of hot gas in the sky, but because of her teachings. I posted this in another thread. Indirect action, in my opinion, is where Celestia's character shines. (Laugh at the pun if you must. I'll wait.) Celestia's will doesn't need magic to be evident and real. She has so much experience and wisdom that she knows how and what to say or do at the right time to get the result she wants. In the pilot, when Nightmare Moon's return was nigh, Celestia sends Twilight off seemingly unconcerned about her student's warning. When all is revealed however, it turns out Twilight's assigned task of making friends was actually purposeful instruction instead of off hoof advice. You wanna really think about it, Celestia might have recognized Twilight as the Element of Magic from her first day and took her as an apprentice purposefully to free Luna. (Though, comparatively, that's cutting it pretty close to the wire if she didn't already have contingency plan.) Then there is sending Twilight back her Friendship reports when Discord had pretty much won. Celestia gave Twilight the resolve to save the world not by direct words of wisdom but just by reminding her student what was important to her on a personal level. Considering that much of the world is directly effected and controlled by the "mortal" ponies already, Celestia's intangible influence in starting, reacting to, and changing events makes her a better metaphor for God than raising the sun does. If God, does effect the world in a story, a better way to tell that story is by having Him do it through people! If Celestia just waved her horn to solve every problem at hand, it would damage not only her as a character, but the quality of the show! In past generations of MLP and similar shows, the world is so simplistic and the characters so devoid of negative emotion that conflict is nearly non-existent. The Princess could very well invoke such a reality! She could scorch away the Everfree Forest, and remove failings from everypony's mind, yet she chooses not to. To create such a world, would make her just as bad as Discord, just by imposing absolute order as opposed to absolute chaos. No conflict, no resolution, no advancement. Complete saccharine stagnation! Celestia (like God) understands that people/ponies aren't perfect. That bad comes of free will, but if you are forced into doing good, the action looses it's meaning. Celestia knows mortals are good at heart, they just need to find their way. As one who's been around long enough to know every roadblock and how to overcome it, she's more than willing to nudge her subjects in the right direction.

Hey! Jesus and the Buddha (and probably others) interacted with people as teachers. Celestia is doing the exact same thing. (Directly in Twilight's case. Disciple IS a more formal term for student, after all.) I can respect that. (Even if I disagree with it.) Still religion as codes and philosophy are good things. Any bad that's done in the name of a religion is an obvious perversion of it's teachings done by man and not the wish of whatever deity is venerated. i.e. God sure as Hell didn't want the Spanish Inquisition but it happened under His son's Cross. Celestia doesn't have to be a moral guardian, her responsibility ends at raising the sun and keeping the borders safe, but she tries to foster kinship between her subjects. Promoting friendship as a philosophy. How about Celestianity? Funny you should mention that. According to the Book of Revelations, after the Apocalypse and the Battle of Armageddon where evil is finally defeated, God will rule ON Earth and all will be good. If Celestia is metaphorically God, than Equestria just might resemble what Earth will be like! Equestria is now CANON, IN REAL LIFE!

SO. MUCH. WIN! Every reference I've seen so far I thought I was the only one who would get it! *clears throat* Anyway. Celestia is very much like Ra, with domain over the sun. Celestia also fits nicely into the role of Pharaoh, as she is both the political head of state and figure of worship for her people. Still the way you worded it, it sounds like somepony can only be one or the other. Rather than having a healthy balance of faith and rationale.

Quite insightful my good sir! Very well researched. Though I'm not a psychology expert, I make an effort to understand at least the basics of Jung's theory. I too have used him to justify my theory posted in "Pony Romance" and my response about Celestia's character in "Shrine of the Sun Goddess." (look them up if your interested and have the time) Though I must say, I've always known Pinkie to be more intelligent than she appears, but I don't think her intuition goes completely unnoticed. In "Swarm of the Century" Twilight and the others admitted they should have listened to her. While her inability to properly communicate her thoughts and points makes her a more complex character, I don't think she's a tragic one. Your theory may very well have been the case up until she met the others, but now she now has friends that make an honest attempt to listen to her. (This might just be me trying my hardest not to picture Pinkie with deep inner sadness.) Of course, the writer in me must give you props! I have been trying to construct "Epic destinies" for the Mane 6, happily ever afters that involve permanent and drastic changes to themeselves and Equestria. You've given me Pinkies'!

Thanks for the link!

Then lock me up and throw away the key, both Fluttershy and Rarity stole my heart a long time ago.

Okay, don't worry about it. Thanks anyway!

I also think it's one of the best in the series. I hate how I felt during it, but the very fact it evoked such emotion was a testament to the show and it's writers.

Oh! Well thank you very much.

I myself slide toward "lawful good" if you catch my drift. (Not saying I'm perfect!) But I know what you mean. He IS a great villain precisely because he upped the ante. I knew the Mane 6 could pull another "save the world" stunt, and this time they get props for it!

Curiosity. I was never possessed of much in the way of social expectations so the franchise's stigma meant zip to me. I saw a five second clip from the "Epic AMV" on PurpleEyes abridged Code Geass series. Looked up the AMV, looked up the source material on TV Tropes, found out what "brony" meant, and a hop,skip, and a jump back to Youtube I was watching the pilot and didn't look back!