Iris Melody

My first time seeing MLP was the very first episode on youtube. I was only watching it to humor my husband (who was not a brony at that time, but somehow knew of MLP - I had no idea it was a show and had not heard of it. He only brought it up cause I was having a bad day and he put on something cute to cheer me up) so I was kinda http://mlpforums.com/public/style_emoticons/default/dry.png until Twilight met Pinkie Pie. ANTI. GRAVITY. GASP. From this,I was sold that I'd like the show, and first meeting Fluttershy completely sealed the deal. I laughed hysterically at her squeaking. By the end of the first two episodes I was leaning toward Applejack as my favorite (no one needed to save her falling off that cliff, she even got down on her own). I knew I liked Pinkie, I absolutely loved her No Fear song, how she "wasn't all there" and I loved her train of thought (freaking Nightmare Moon is here and she's like OOH! GUESSING GAMES! HOKEY SMOKES! QUEEN MEANIE!) I was uncertain as to who I'd claim as my favorite until I saw Griffon the Brush Off. How Pinkie handled Gilda made her my super number one favorite. Everything said between them at Gilda's party. But to be super specific as the exact moment(s) that this specific pony became my favorite, here are le quotes! Gilda: I know what you're up to. Pinkie: Great Gilda: Rrrh. I know what you're planning. Pinkie: [giggles] Well, I hope so. This wasn't supposed to be a surprise party. (score one for Pinkie!) Gilda: I mean, I've got my eye on you. Pinkie: And I got my eye on you. ... Gilda: Hey, I'm watching you. Like a hawk. Pinkie: Why? Can't you watch me like a griffon? (cue hysterical laughter) ... Gilda: No way. It was Pinkie Pie, she set up this party to trip me up, to make a fool of me. Pinkie: Me? I threw this party to improve your attitude. I thought a good party might turn that frown upside down. Oh, Pinkie

I recommend mylittlebrony.com so much content, so many absolutely hilarious memes... so many scenes not screen-shoted (I can pretend that's a verb?) that should be and captioned, so much potential... Also, going to Pony Creator Full Version and create yourself as a pony! I recommend uploading your cutie mark first before altering your pony. Then there's all that time spent discovering what your cutie mark is, and finding the perfect image - you upload your own cutie mark so that there are literally no limits to it! Now go have fun immersing yourself! Oh, and chat all around the forums

Applejack, no competition! Reasons: pretty much the episode of Look Before You Sleep. The only thing I don't like about Applejack is her pride issues. The only thing I like about Rarity is how pretty she is... that's about it. Well, her voice actress is my favorite - I'd say Rarity's voice actress is the most talented out of the bunch, but that doesn't bring kudos to Rarity herself.

I must say Twilight over RD. Rainbow Dash is just too brash, mean, and inconsiderate for my liking. Also too competitive, too egotistical, too... At least Twilight's sarcasm is funny, and her freak outs entertaining

I must vote Pinkie Pie. I love all of Pinkie's ups and downs, quirks and faults. Everything about Pinkie, I love. I love Fluttershy's ups, but her 'downs' are, well... she has faults I can't claim to like nor find endearing. The thing that gets me the most is her personal cowardice. I know she can be brave when necessary to stand up for friends and whatnot, and that's great, but when it comes to her dealing with herself, she's such a coward. Also, the caregiver technique of "begging, pleading, beseeching" and allowing Angel to slap her around for the most part as if nothing's wrong... I wish in Putting Your Hoof Down she actually learned how to put her hoof down. Yes, she improved, but I'm looking forward to much more improvement. When I see Fluttershy, for the most part I see someone in an abusive relationship that doesn't have enough self-worth to say/think/realize that what is going on is wrong.

Underrated: RAINBOWSHINE! Overrated: (is that possible?)

Because Pink hair in Equestria is like red hair in the read world! MUAHAHAHAHA! It is recessive and makes you "the red headed step child" (even if you aren't a step child). That's why Mayor Mare, who has (gasp) pink hair, dyes it! Or maybe you were abandoned on the rock farm and the Pies begrudgingly raised you? Hm. Maybe. I just vote you got the recessive genes. When my cat had kittens, (mama cat being white/cream/yellow with black tips) there were 4 in her litter. The first born was gray and yellow long hair, 2nd born a white-based calico short hair, 3rd born a gray tabby short hair, and 4th born a fully black coat long hair. Same mom, same dad (whichever cat it was) and four completely different babies.

Pinkie Pie is best pony <3 When I first saw the pilot, I thought she had the best first impression (I mimicked that anti-gravity gasp for MONTHS with my friends, whether they knew what I was doing or not) and her No Fear song sealed the deal (I NEEDED that song when I was three!) By Griffon the Brush Off, she was officially solidified as my number one favorite pony - Pinkie has such an amazing attitude! Only super enforced by Feeling Pinkie Keen! I love her. I always felt like I understood Pinkie, even though I'm not very much like her. I'm certainly not an extrovert. I pegged her personal insecurity and her not-very-big opinion of herself. I grew up in a terrible home, also as the "different" one. (My mother would alter my appearance and had my hair dyed. I finally changed my body and my hair color back to normal when I was 20! and I cried for a week and a half in fear, since I didn't have permission to do it, so I did it without saying anything...) Among other abuses, my parents were pretty big on mental abuse - about how no one likes me, no one will ever like me, no one wants me around, if someone asks me, "how are you?" they don't actually want to know, it's just a normal greeting, and I shouldn't even pretend to be worth wasting anyone's time. Shut up, never speak, don't act like I'm worth interacting with others, I am always inconvenient and unwanted, but I better appear to be normal/fine. I was completely miserable and alone, no close/real friends (until later high school - a whopping two people) and I couldn't envision a way out. I also completely know how Pinkie feels about not confiding her feelings to others. The only purpose to exist is to make others happy, since to exist without benefiting others means there is no reason to exist. To confide what horrors are happening within my own life would only make others horrified/sad. Why do that? I didn't want to be a downer. If I was a downer, then no one no one would ever want me around. I think there is much significance in her Smile song - especially how she pulls herself out of that sadness. She even admits how some days are "dark and lonely." I think very highly of Pinkie. When she saw that rainbow (full symbolism included of seeing the rainbow at the end of the storm) it made her so happy. She could have been like, "how can I make myself this happy more often / all the time?" but she didn't. Her first thought was, "I'm so happy, how can I spread this to everyone else? I want everyone to be this happy, no one should feel the loneliness and suffering that I have." That speaks volumes of her character. It became her personal reason for existence - to spread happiness. It validated her existence and gave her a sense of purpose. "Cheering up my friends is just what Pinkie's here to do... all I really need is a smile... from these happy friends of mine" - the only reason she's "here." I personally suspect her family may have been somewhat abusive, if not physical then at least neglectful with mental and emotional harm (whether intended or not, definitely there). When I was a kid, I thought that if I could make my parents happy, then maybe the abuse would stop. (HA! NOT!) so that's why I think Pinkie started first with her family on trying to make them happy with a party. Would making them happy make things better? At least she earned her cutie mark succeeding in making them smile (I believe her balloons are symbolic of her uplifting others, two blue on bottom with the upraised yellow - taking a plural of sadness and uplifting them to a collective happiness - it even goes with her lyrics "fill my heart up with sunshine" so that when others are uplifted to the happy yellow balloon metaphor, so is she). Even though the party was a success, it didn't change the rock farm conditions or how she was treated. Were her sisters envious of her getting her cutie mark first? Did her parents punish her for outshining her sisters? (I was frequently punished for "outshining" my brothers, better grades in school and whatnot, because how dare I make them feel bad about themselves when I never meant that.) I fully suspect that Pinkie ended up running away. I sure as heck fled. I suspect Pinkie ran away with the notion that, on this farm, she could only try and fail to keep her family happy, which would put her through such mental anguish, or she could run away and try her hoof at making strangers and the world happy- as many people as she could! Oh hey look, that's exactly what she did. Found employment that gave her a place to live, allowed her to be useful (as the cook) while giving her the opportunity to spread happiness to an entire town. She hit the ground running with that and succeeded. She may have not known what she was lacking in the best-close-friend department until she finally got close friends with the mane 6. And then we see her not knowing how to handle the "rejection." "There's one thing that makes me happy, and makes my whole life worthwhile, and that's when I talk to my friends and get them to smile." So naturally, if she perceives herself failing at that one thing, goodbye Pinkie sanity. Any abused person knows that the sentiments long past will still sneak up on us and haunt us - the "dark and lonely" days of which Pinkie sings. How on earth to make it go away, to quit following me? Distraction can be an effective method, though much effort needs to be put into it. If that high amount of effort isn't there, if one isn't "always busy" then those depressing thoughts have more time to be present... and it's a downward spiral. Pinkie puts an uncharted, endless amount of effort into "chasing down people to make them happy" at any cost. "I'll work real hard and do my best to turn that sad frown upside down." I think this insane amount of effort is 1) one way to run away from her own dark thoughts and sentiments that have followed her since her foalhood as a distraction and 2) because maybe if she's good enough and can make absolutely everyone she meets happy, then maybe these terrible memories and sentiments will go away. Sure, making others happy makes her happy, but her motive is not to chase down her own happiness. She's subconsciously validating herself. Also, in order to make others happy, one has to appear happy, and it's easier for one to appear happy if one is happy in order to spread that happy - even though it's a cycle, her own personal happiness isn't the point. "I give a smile, I get a smile, and that's so special to me." The line in her song that really holds up a flag to me is, "Tell me what more can I say to make you see?" "Yes a perfect gift for me is a smile as wide as a mile, to make me happy as can be" to make her as happy as she possibly can be... I agree with your analysis on Pinkie; I just felt like adding some

I have been of the belief that her parents died somehow and that is why/how Granny Smith became their guardian. Or, assuming Apple Bloom is a full biological sibling, her mother died in child birth and the dad went nuts and abandoned the family? AJ may have felt like he lied, saying he'd love them forever, but losing it after losing his wife. Or, potentially worse, mother died in child birth and the dad mourned himself to death instead of bothering to care for his own children, whether he actively committed suicide or not. Or maybe the dad died somehow (disease? farming accident?) and, despite being pregnant/having a newborn, the mother fell into such a deep depression she didn't even bother to try to care for her children, and her lack of a will to live lead to her demise. Either way, I can see Granny Smith moving in to help out around the house with the kids, and then becoming the only adult left... I can see how the upheaval of her family would send AJ running to Manehattan to "escape" her problems, sorta. Running from her problems, running from herself, running from the truth. Being honest with herself, confronting herself and returning home is why I think she was granted her Cutie Mark. A deep and personal inner conflict she naturally wouldn't want to tell young fillies. I can definitely see where ugly family politics could come into play. Or the Oranges may have thought they were humoring her, or "saving her" from that stupid, dirt poor savage lifestyle, naturally thinking very lowly of ponies who actually choose to live that way. Whichever parent was originally an Orange (I'm guessing her mother) well, her mother ran off and married some dirt poor small town farmer! The horror! The disgrace! Maybe served her right for her terrible fate (or) hooray they could at least save their young niece from that ugly, disgraceful lifestyle.

I completely agree with your theory on her background. I know the feeling. If your own parents/guardians don't love you, or it is painfully obvious that you aren't even worth their time (or any sort of caring/effort) then how can you possibly love yourself or believe that *others* could think you are worth something, too? Just be quiet, back away, don't be seen, and don't upset everyone else's life because you happen to exist, because that might be inconvenient. Scratch that - you have been taught/raised that your existence IS inconvenient. Everyone who knows me irl says I'm like Fluttershy. I have ALWAYS had "the stare" though mine has been dubbed the "death glare." All those repressed emotions, since not verbally expressed, come screaming out my eyes - and can make even the scariest guy back away from me with nothing but a glare.

I was just trying to be silly/comical. I'll mosey on now Yea, it is spelled with the "a" on the wiki. But as all teachers say, wikis are not scholastic/academic sources, since anyone can change it and add whatever, correct or not. While there is a possibility the "a" spelling is correct (I assume for the pun on "dance" instead of using the English musical term cadence) I just won't go for it until/unless it is officially proclaimed in writing as such by the MLP creators/writers. By the way they pronounce it when they speak, it makes me believe there is an "e" there, but English and its vowels can be very misleading. Maybe Cadence/Cadance has some awesome dance moves we haven't seen yet (not counting what we saw at her reception) to go along with her super awesome singing voice?

INTERNET FIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!! ... lol... I said the above in my mind like how a kid usually calls out "food fight," but I don't know how to throw the internet Pinkie would know how! (I just have a habit of justifying myself when called out as potentially incorrect, even over silly things as a single vowel over silly places such as an internet forum)

Luna is the most visually pleasing to my eyes. Just how she appears to embody a gorgeous starry night sky... that makes her win easily. Her eyes are also the prettiest, hooves down.

DITTO. That part right there gets me every time (I can't count how many times I've watched it... in-episode and just-song-on-youtube).

I hope I didn't come across as rude either. I was just explaining to the individual who posted to state that it should be spelled "Cadance," and I replied with why there are those of us who spell it as Cadence. But, for those who just think it looks better with "dance" in the name, or for those who just don't care, tis whatever.

*deep breath* RAINBOWSHINE!!! She's in the thick of the action in the first episode(s) and is a frequently seen background pony that I have never, ever seen/heard ANYONE talk about. I've been spotting her like every else spots Derpy (not that I don't like Derpy). She even talks once in Sonic Rainboom. She's the one that suggested Rarity compete in the flying thing so that everyone could ooooo and aaaaah at her beautiful wings. So, she's just as common as Lyra, spoke before Lyra, AND even came out as a toy. I want to see more Rainbowshine!! She's in the 2011 ComicCon poster (right there by Big Macintosh!) I'm so worried that her seeming lack of popularity will make her go away. Why no love for Rainbowshine??

According to every scholastic source I can find, Cadenza is a musical term. So is Cadence (Cadenza considered the Italian version of the English Cadence). Nowhere is Cadance an actual word, not that all ponies are named after 'actual words.' Personally, I'll only accept the "Cadance" spelling if that is how it is published by offical MLP things, Hub, etc. MLP wiki doesn't count. I just don't understand why they'd go from her original Cadenza to throw in a random extra "a" that isn't even pronounced in English as an "a" to make a word that isn't a word. Cadence just makes sense, plus when spoken, the "e" is the proper vowel sound.

"Everyone is the hero of their own story."

Imagine a king and a queen having 3 children, and only one inherits the throne. Let's pick the youngest, not-heir-to-throne sibling to follow. This sibling grows up and gets married, having children, probably passing down genes inherited from mother (queen) that the queen also passed down to the heir, but this grandchild from not-the-heir will have many of the same genes (that the heir inherited too) with practically no chance of ascending to the throne, considering everyone else closer to it. Grandchild of queen born of non-heir gets married, has children, even further from the crown now, but still passing down genes from that past queen. Each generation, each child gets further and further from the crown and royal family - how distant cousins at this point? Generations later, may know they are nobility, but only an investigation into family tree would be like, "oh! we were related to royalty 10 generations ago by queen A! we are descended from the youngest of her 3 children." More time passes, and maybe only the family money is an indicator of what once was. So many generations and marrying-others has passed, of course now not related by any stretch of the imagination to the royal family, but that queen's genes were still passed down. As for the alicorn thing, only royal family members seem to be alicorns. Assuming idea in my example that the queen was an alicorn, and her three children alicorns, and the youngest sibling we followed married a not-an-alicorn, who had children that all married not-alicorns, whose children all married not-alicorns, naturally that alicorn-ness would have been bred out, but perhaps the genetic trait of coat-and-mane color remained. Also, I'm not saying that Diamond Tiara "came from" Cadence, but that some of the genes Cadence inherited and some of the genes that Diamond Tiara inherited are the same - Cadence directly descended from heirs (think if Luna, Celestia, and Cadence's mother are siblings, so Celestia's parent would be a direct heir, just like Celestia, and Cadence received those genes being born the granddaughter of an heir -as the niece of Celestia - but her and Shining Armor's child will not likely succeed the throne) and Diamond Tiara's obtained through all those countless generations of not-heirs-but-still-that-one-link-forever-ago.

I've been studying conjoined twins and birth defects, so that actually makes a lot of sense to me XD But anyway, only royal family members seem to be alicorns - whether the royal bloodline somehow only produces alicorns, or an alicorn born anywhere is sent to Canterlot to be a princess. Do we know of any male alicorns? Prince Blueblood was just a unicorn... which means not *all* royal family members are alicorns. But he's the only male royal family member, born into the royal family considering he's single, that I think we know of. Can only females inherit both the wings and the horn? ... I hope we see some male alicorns.

Considering Rainbow Dash discovered her special talent was super fast flying (and how much she loved it) that's why hers takes the shape of a lightning bolt, even though it's a rainbow one coming from a cloud. Perhaps EVERYPONY who discovers their special talent is flying/moving "fast as lightning" will have a lightning-bolt-of-some-sort cutie mark.

I wonder, if originally, there were alicorns and there were ponies. Alicorn gene remained prominent within the direct blood line of the royal family, and by marrying outside of their genetic pool with the earth ponies, that was how pegasi and unicorns came to be? And that's how earth ponies could give birth to a pegasus, or a unicorn, or an earth pony? Or, if all 3 were originally separate, is it possible for a unicorn and a pegasus to have an alicorn baby? But then the question remains how the royal blood line seems to be solely alicorn, and whether potential-alicorn-immortality has anything to do with it... HMMM... or, perchance an alicorn happens to be born (not royal family) they are automatically sent to Canterlot? Is there a real, direct blood relation, or a glorification at their rare genetic makeup? If Princess Cadence and Shining Armor were to have children, would they give birth to an alicorn, a unicorn, or a pegasus? All of the above (assuming 3 babies)? Only one of the above (no matter how many children)? Or would their chance of having a pegasus be 0% while it's a 50/50 between unicorn and alicorn? Dear People Who Created A Children's Cartoon, May we please have a canon textbook on the genetics and lore of this universe? LOL kthxbai, Random Curious Adult That Doesn't Have a Child (yet).

LOL. Do you like dark chocolate? *hands over some dark chocolate* I am sorry if my initial response came across as snippy. Thank you for handling my mean snippy-ness well. Usually I'm not, but alas, I have PMS rage. It is literally the most accurate indicator of I'm about to start Not that I'm blaming being mean on girl time but really... /shame