Nature's Spell

Ha! Haven't posted recently and haven't been very involved with this season either. I've watched all of them and liked a few but over all I'm meh about this season.

Cartoons need not align with our whims, desires, or thoughts about good government. It simply has to be entertaining and well designed, which the show is. It's not the real world or even a version of the real world, so their government doesn't have to be like ours.

I think they are great, but as with many things they are best in small numbers. I'm not a fan of the idea of the mane 5 joining Twilight as one, but I would love to learn more about Luna and Celestia. However, they've had chances to show more of their back story in the show but choice not to.

The strong implication is that Twilight, Luna and Celestia were destined for their roles and I think it's been implied that the tree is somewhat sentient.

It's like Mayor Mare! Pretty sure that's her name and also her job. That's Equestria for you.

This thread is more of a poll, but I perfer Minuette.

I'm not a huge fan of Pinky, but I see she has some value.

The answer is clear: blame Larson. Actually I don't think Celestia has an agenda. Having an agenda implies depth and we've not seen much that would suggest she has hidden motivations. Not to say she doesn't have a inner life, but it doesn't seem to affect how she rules.

Luna is interesting because her royal countenance was hiding a lot of pain and misery. We've never seen behind Celestia's mask and we may never. Luna is playful, serious, clearly lacking in confidence, compassionate and able to understand her subjects in a way her sister maybe can't. She's complex.

Fast. Very fast. Magic prodigy for sure, but she's likely a genius too.

What Pinkie represents, laughter, is only one part of friendship and the other mane 5 represent the other parts. Twilight is Princess because she represents all those elements, is a leader, and created new magic. I also agree not being perfect, but striving to do her best makes her a stronger princess. Heck we saw that with Luna in last episode.

It's possible, but it doesn't appear that many Unicorns ever use spells that can drain them. Basically the spells you do or learn are part of your special talent. Only a unicorn like Twilight who so loves magic would push themselves to the limit. Spells are to unicorns what flying is to pegasus. It's part of them. Yet we've seen ponies come close to exhaustion trying to maintain spells, so it would work head canon wise.

Hapless ponies is also a popular meme with the writers. Remember, they are putting the characters in situations to teach a certain lesson and be entertaining, so they'll often exaggerate their fears and xenophobia. This makes it hard to pinpoint what the ponies really think because it can and does change. In broad strokes I would say they can be quite fearful, superstitions, and xenophobic, but they're also quick to see the error of their ways.

Yep. That's where the idea for her being Chrysalis came from, but I don't agree with that theory.

She did appear at the wedding-she danced too. But she was nowhere to be seen during the attack.

The fandom theory is that she's Queen Chrysalis. I personally hate that theory.

She doesn't need a lot of staff. Just the right staff. Maybe Lemon Hearts to run all her events.

I've been less involved in here recently, but normally I've been watching new episodes with my kids. I'm somewhat less involved but still interested in the show.

Being more multifaceted is important for all the characters, but Applejack, like Pinky, might be hard for the writers to write her differently. Perhaps none of them really understand her or think she's more than an Apple.

I agree with Buck Testa. It appears that the writers have a plan and are slowly progressing Twilight as a princess. It's always important to differentiate between a gag, tired Twilight, and real character development and continuity. The writers have their own agenda and many times the gag-the individual story-is more important than continuity.

Great point. The writers won't let her just exist. She's like the "adult" the "Mom" in the room and is rarely given a chance to be anything but that and perhaps she never can. She can't let the Royal mask down.

I like Luna a lot, she's interesting, but I too hate the way they make Celestia into a bad guy. I think Celestia's been pigeonholed as the calm and wise teacher/mother figure and the writers aren't sure how to show her differently or don't wish to. The only hole in the royal mask was fighting with Luna over the wedding gift. A perfect example of this (it happened to both sisters, but it stood out with Celestia especially) was when confronting Discord (finding the EOH) they looked and acted exactly as they do now. As if they were never younger or inexperienced. It was a huge missed opportunity to not show a young and inexperienced Celestia. Luna is just given more latitude to be directly involved in ponies lives and has that "bad girl" vibe people love. She can just be more flexible in a story. Whatever Luna's formal role is supposed to be the writers find it easier to inset Celestia.

At a certain point in my life I actively discouraged friends, or at least made it difficult for people to seek my friendship. Interestingly my reason for being aloof was similar to Twilight's-a desire to excel academically, but with a twist. I had a Learning Disability and wanted to leave the self-contained LD classes and less disciplined/ driven classmates for the "normal kids". However, I was much better at impressing teachers than my peers, so when I made it, in High School, to college prep classes I was socially inept. It didn't get much better until college and to this day, at 41, I have no close friends that are my own. Just couples and friends of my wife. I guess we make choices, and those choices define us, but I do wish I found a way to balance achievement with friendship. Perhaps that's why I like the show so much because it has such an idealized view of friendship.

I'm not sure it was strictly Celestia's choice. We'll never know if she knew that Twilight was coming, but once she saw her raw power and her Cutie Mark matching the Tree of Harmony it was clear she needed to watch this filly closely.