FatPat

It's not too hard to keep it private really. My roomates know about it, but they're cool and don't mention it when other people are around. I watch the show in my room and keep my plushies there as well, and since no one else ever goes into my room the secret is safe. I don't talk about MLP with them all that much or try to get them to watch it, so I think that helps. My family is aware of it, but they don't seem to care that much. Of course I've always been interested in lots of geeky stuff, so it's not a huge surprise. My sister even got me a brony shirt last Christmas. If there's other Bronies around I don't try to hide anything. I was at a MLP card tournament last week and brought my Twilight plushie. Got a lot of weird looks from the stores patrons, but when I'm in a group I don't care. If I'm alone then I'll hide everything.

Got the Friends Forever #2, and man is this an amazing improvement over the lackluster first issue! (Spoilers, duh) I love how the plot played out. Discord is trying to help the CMC, and as usual it's left ambiguous whether Discord is actually trying to help them or just messing with them. I love the ending where the CMC thank Discord very heartfully, and they legitimately made a connection with him about not belonging anywhere in the world. It's really sweet, I wish this could have been an actual episode. IIRC, this is the first time we've seen Celestia and Discord interact with each other. I really hope they get an issue together, I've always been curious about what kind of history the two have. Also got to love the Star Trek refreence

I'd like to see an episode that shows us what Celestia was like when she was younger. Especially if Discord is telling it, and being a completely unreliable narrator. I have my own little headcannon on how things went down. Celestia used to be wild and crazy. She was close to Discord and the two enjoyed having their freedom. Celestia and Luna were some of the last ponies born as alicorns, so it was their responsibility to become the new leaders of Equestria. Celestia didn't want to give up her freedom, so Luna had to step up. However Luna just wasn't cut out to run a country, and things were getting worse and worse. Celestia realized how selfish she was being and decided to become the new ruler. Discord was pretty upset about being abandoned. When he took over Equestria and turned into chaos central, he actually thought he was helping Celestia. His twisted logic was that if everything was in total chaos, there would be no need for her to have to spend all her time running the country. She wasn't too keen on the idea, so Discord took it personally. While Luna was happy that she didn't have the burden of ruling Equestria anymore, she was also jealous. Celestia had always been better than her at things, and once again she had to swoop in to save Luna, and once again Celestia was able to do a very difficult task with ease. Luna's resentment builds up, leading to her accepting the Nightmare Forces so she would have a chance to show her older sister up. The whole "night isn't important" excuse was just that.

This is just my take, but I think what's happening is that Equestria is trying to avoid turning into a communistic type of society. It looks like the natural thing for the ponies to do would be they discover their cutie mark, and then they have to fall into society based on their talent. For example, a pony is talented at cooking so she has to get a job cooking. And yes that would take away any sense of individuality to have every pony defined by their talent. The way Equestria handles it is instead of "has to" they "can." They allow the citizens to live their lives how they wish to. Pinkie Pie is one of our only examples of this. Her talent is throwing parties, but she doesn't do it as a job, more like her favorite hobby. Instead she got a job working at a bakery. My guess is that ponies have the freedom to either embrace their #1 talent, or explore other fields. It certainly looks like it's the norm to get a job centered around your talent, but it's not forced on anypony. Looking at the episode again, when all the kids were in her library Twilight wasn't forcing any of them to do anything. She was letting them pick which group they wanted to be in, and she even asked Pip what he wanted to learn about. My impression is that Equestria does value individuality, and they have built a society where ponies have the freedom to choose their own careers and goals in life.

I've been thinking about this and I see now why I'm more upset with Rarity than Trend. The thing about Trend is that he appeared to be legit in his admiration and attraction to Applejack and her 'down on the farm' lifestyle. It's too bad we didn't get some backstory on him like we did with Cheese, but based on what he said about the farm before seeing AJ, I think it's safe to assume he really did like AJ for who she is. Rarity on the other hand does not like the country life. She was definitely pretending to be someone she's not in order to impress someone else. At least from my perspective Trend wasn't really being all that bad. He seemed to legitimately like Applejack and tried to learn more about her and flirted with her for a little while. Not to say he's completely innocent. He was ignoring Rarity, and wasn't taking any of AJ's hints that she wasn't interested. Though at the end when they explained the situation, Trender backed off. Would he have actually liked the farm life? Was he serious about wanting to ditch his fashion lifestyle and adopt a new country one? Had he always secretly longed for a simpler life, or was he just temporarily entranced? We do not know, so it's still hard to pin down his behavior. We know plenty about Rarity, and she was acting pretty bad. I'm not saying Rarity needs to be flawless, just that Trender might not not have been lying like she was, so I don't think we should be too hard on the guy.

Don't get me wrong, Rarity's my second favorite after Twilight, I guess there's too many ways to look at the various factors to decide who was worse, plus we don't know enough about Trenderfoot. Personally I think Rarity putting him over setting up the ceremonies was pretty bad, but in the end it's mostly about the fact that they were guilty of the same crime, both trying to act country in order to impress somepony.

I don't know, Tenderhoof didn't seem all that bad to me. Rarity was actually acting even worse, I mean she had a stalker shrine to the guy and I noticed a bit of his hair was part of it . It's interesting how he and Rarity mirrored each other. He did learn his lesson at the end btw. There were some parts, like when he was eating the apple, which felt kind of forced in an attempt to make him seem like a jerk, but I didn't really get that kind of vibe from him. I like that, it's an interesting idea. Being surrounded by Unicorns and their obsessions with trying to doll everything up to conform with tacky fashion trends could wear one down after a while. Then he would want to be free and embrace the opposite of Unicorns, Earth ponies.

I'm under the impression that there simply wasn't enough time to give Spike a subplot. If there was more time, I bet Spike would have also tried to change himself. He'd probably would have started dressing and acting like Tenderhoof. Wish he had, would have made that scene in the barn even funnier

Pretty good episode in my opinion. Bit of a mix really. Pros: - I know some people aren't happy about Biceps and Derpy being in the episode, but for me it was a breath of fresh air. We've been with the mane 6 for a while now, so it's nice to see some other characters thrown into the mix. Biceps constant yelling did get a bit grating, but I loved watching him struggle to fly, and seeing Fluttershy and AJ amusement at his muscle tricks. Derpy's cameo felt just right, a fun little presence that helped lighten the mood. I was also glad to see them in the group picture at the end. -I was pleasantly surprised to see Soarin return during the third act. I was expecting him to simply be forgotten, and it's good to see another male character get some form of prominence in a plot, even if it's short. I'm glad to see the writers addressed how badly Spitfire and Fleetfoot were treating him, especially since that feels like the kind of plot point that would have been glossed over in earlier seasons. -Overall I'm happy to see some male characters being a part of the episode, and being treated equally. One of my major criticisms of MLP is the lack of male presence, which is weird because usually in most cartoons I watch it's the other way around. Glad to see some positive integration happening, and I hope it keeps up. Cons: -How many times is Rainbow Dash going to have to freaking prove herself to the Wonderbolts? This basic plot has been recycled too many times now. They really need to move on and have RD either join them, or decide not to join them. Then we can have some new plots about either Rainbow having to deal with being on the team, or searching for a new goal in life. I know I'm getting sick of this endless dance. -To me the episode felt bloated with so many characters. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, AJ, and Twilight all had their little things going on, but it felt like too much. I would have rather spent more time watching the Ponyville and Cloudsdale trios interacting with each other. Could have been a good chance to see more of what kind of dynamic the Wonderbolts have with each other and get some more characterization for Soarin and Fleetfoot.

This episode was interesting for me because Applejack and Pinkie Pie being distant relatives was an idea I had a while ago. It made me really psyched to see an actual episode of the show use that plot! It's also great that AJ and Pinkie have some kind of dynamic now, as one thing that's continuously annoyed me about the show is that certain pairs of characters have yet to really interact with each other. My idea for the episode started out similarly, with Pinkie and Twilight looking at genealogy and Pinkie discovering from her own research that she and AJ have a common ancestor. Though Applejack isn't very thrilled about it, as Pinkie wants to move in and help out on the farm. Aj is worried that Pinkie will drive everyone crazy and cause all kinds of disasters and destruction across Sweet Apple Acres. It's a dilemma because the Apples value family above all else, so Aj can't just turn Pinkie away. She gives Pinkie lots of difficult and time consuming tasks to try and discourage her from moving in. Twilight later finds out that Pinkie made a mistake and they don't share an ancestor. Applejack is relieved, but feels bad when she sees that Pinkie has worked very hard to only to complete all her tasks, but also cooked a huge meal and put together a fun party for the family. AJ doesn't reveal the truth and let's Pinkie help out on the farm for a day, which she ends up being very good at. When AJ tells Pinkie she made a mistake, it turns out that Twilight was wrong, as Pinkie has some other family tree information that she left at her old home in the bakery. And Applejack's moral for the end is that while being family is important, what's even more important is being friends. She and Pinkie aren't just family, they're friends and that's why the Apple Family has always been so tight knit. The actual episode was pretty good. I enjoyed that whole plot point about the Apples trying not to fight or argue. That's something I'm sure we've all had to go though with our families while trying to impress someone. I'm disappointed that they didn't reveal whether Pinkie is related to them or not. I hope the subtle similarities between Golden Delicious and Pinkie are intentionally supposed to point towards there being an actual relation. I always find it annoying when a story sets up a mystery and decides to leave it hanging like that. None the less, I'm happy to see that Pinkie is considered a part of the family and I hope that stays consistent with future episodes. It's always nice to have some kind of fun relationship change like that in a series, and now AJ and Pinkie have a dynamic they can work off of with each other.

I noticed that something is off on one of my cards. It's the ultra rare, Rainbow Dash: Winged Wonder. I got two of them and one is messed up a bit. One of the letters on the text is smudged, and there's a shiny triangle on the picture between RD and Rarity. I can only hope it ends up being a collectors item. Wonder what other cards are getting a little screwed up?

I'd like to see some more focus put on characters beside the Mane 6, Spike, and CMCs. The comics have been spending time with other characters, not just the micro comics but the main one. I really enjoyed the Big Mac 2 parter, and the following ark about when Cadance and Shining Armor were in high school. My favorite shows have always been ones that build a community and then spend time with the various members, like The Simpsons and Hey Arnold. I do think MLP could benefit from that kind of expansion. It got me excited when the new intro showed so many more characters in the photo during the opening. I don't know if the writers plan to actually give any of them their own episodes, but it would be great.

Snips and Snails in the opening huh? I would like it if those two got more involved in the episodes. Of course they'd need to not be such idiots. Not sure if the writers would try doing something like that though. Still I can dream. Those flashbacks were nice, but so quick and simple. These events really could use their own episodes to flesh out what was going on. But hey, we'll always have fanon.

Here's one I thought up the other day. Pinkie Pie finds out that she and Applejack are related. It's distant, but none the less it makes them family. Pinkie is so excited that she decides she's going to move into Apple Acres to help with the family business. AJ isn't very keen on the idea, but she could never turn away family. So she keeps finding errands and other things for Pinkie to do. Then AJ has Twilight carefully inspect the family trees, and Twilight finds out that the Apples and Pies aren't actually related. Applejack is relieved. However when she tries to confront Pinkie about it, she still can't bring herself to deny the pink pony. She finally lets Pinkie help out on the farm. To her surprise, Pinkie is hard working and efficient (She did grow up on a rock farm). Applejack then reveals that they aren’t actually related. But it turns out Pinkie has some information that Twilight didn't, and she and AJ do in fact have a common ancestor. Applejack concludes that Pinkie isn't just family, she's something even more important, a friend.

The AJ/Pinkie episode has me interested. Hopefully we're going to learn some more about Pinkie's family. While watching the preview I was thinking it would cool if Pinkie found out she and AJ are related, like distant cousins. That could set up a whole new dynamic for those two. I wonder if the return of Nightmare Moon event is going to take the comic book into any consideration. The last arc dealt with the nightmare spirits that gave Luna the power in the first place. Be pretty sweet if they kept that in the continuity and make references to the Nightmare Rarity story.

I'd say it was mostly on par with the series, which is what I was expecting. Yeah everyone was throwing fits about it from day 1, but I knew that as long as it was made by the same creative team it would work. I feel like it was a step up from the other adventure type stories. Usually there's a lot of fridge logic in them, especially from the villains. The movie had it's fair share, such as Twilight not explaining that the tiara was hers or Sunset just stealing the damn thing earlier. Thankfully the good outweigh the bad. Songs were really good and catchy. I like that Twilight managed to bring the school community together by having everyone build the fall formal together. I'm also happy that Sunset didn't try to rig the election, instead she did the rational thing and just plain stole the tiara.

Sunset didn't have much originality to her. She was mostly a composition character, mainly taking traits from Trixie and Queen Chrysalis. In fact replacing her with Trixie wouldn't have been very difficult at all. Really the only unique aspect to her is that she was a former student of Celestia who went rogue. The idea has potential, but all it was used for was to set up the plot. She doesn't bring anything new to the table and overall I found her to be quite lame.

I feel the same way too. The thing about the main comic is that it's telling adventure stories, which I've always felt have been the weakest episodes on the show in terms of writing. As such it ends up being a mixed bag. The ark about Nightmare Rarity is better, although it suffers from the problem of 4 issues not giving the story enough time, which a lot of comics have trouble with. Give the micro series a read. They do what the show does best by having slice of life stories. Definitely check out the Rarity issue.

Spoilers ahead, these are my thoughts after just seeing it. Overall it was a good movie. Not great, but good. Held onto the spirit of the show nicely. The Good -The pacing was well done. It felt like they spent just the right amount of time on this movie. -The plot was fairly solid. Usually these adventure stories struggle with the villain being an idiot. Sunset Shimmer averted this for the most part. I'm glad she decided to just steal the crown instead of trying to win the popularity contest. -Felt there was a good mix of having Twilight adjusting to her new body and re-meeting her friends again and bringing them together. -Lots of references to the show and fandom. They were spread out well so it didn't feel like a giant cluster of fan pandering. Some were subtle and some were more in your face, so a good mix. -Not a lot of focus on Brad. -Sunset gets reformed at the end. One of the problems I have with this show is when villains are casually cast away. This series is supposed to be about making friends. I'm glad that this villain was put on the path to building a better life. The Bad -This whole love interest thing was unnecessary. Could have been removed from the movie without affecting anything else. Could have been much worse. Thankfully it was a very minor subplot. -Twilight and Sunset had some lapses in logic. Why didn't Twilight just explain that the crown was hers? Why didn't Sunset just break into the school and steal it? Better yet, why didn't Twilight do that considering she was living in the library? Again it could have been worse. Sunset showed some intelligence by just stealing the damn thing in the end. -Spike as a dog. This may just be personal preference, but it annoys me that the only main male character is being turned into a freaking dog. I feel like that has some negative annotations towards the male gender. It also makes little sense to me, as they have dogs in the pony universe. Dragons are not their version of dogs. It did serve a purpose though, as having a talking dog helped Twilight convinces everyone she was from another world. Would have prefered Spike to also become a human, but this is mostly my preference. -Also, don't Luna and Celestia control the sun and moon? Couldn't they have done something to extend the time period? Conclusion I am satisfied with this movie. I'd give it a B+. The writers avoided most of the fridge logic and idiot ball holding that commonly happens in these adventure episodes. There's still some floating around, but it's not nearly as bad as it's been on the show. Romance was minor, characters were their awesome selves, in jokes were handled well, and villain got a chance for redemption. Good work pony staff, keep it up.

Felt that the Fluttershy micro issue was lackluster, especially after the fantastic Rarity issue. Felt short, and was pretty predictable. Right off the bat I guessed exactly what was going to happen, and I was completely right. I'm at least glad we got to see that Fluttershy has a hobby in knitting. Helps explain her "freaky knowledge of sewing"