ponyvangelist

I'm hoping it will be an Apple Bloom, like this... ...with an apple behind it so we know it's an apple bloom.

A Higher Authority I believe She even outranks queens... Fig. 1: Her Holiness Lauren Faust, God-Empress of Equestria. She ranks far above the level of a most beautiful princess contest, but if you were to suggest that, as Supreme Deity and Creator of Equestria, She is Ultimate Best Pony, I wouldn't disagree. Indeed, to suggest otherwise would probably be a sin.

My Little Pwny Well, let's see.... We humans have nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, biological weapons, stealth bombers, high-energy lasers, railguns, ICBMs, artillery, mechanized infantry and a vast array of secret weapons we've never heard about, any of which could probably defeat any conventional army on their own, and a bunch of other ridiculously lethal stuff I didn't list for the sake of brevity. The ponies have Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor, the Elements of Harmony, the Magic of Friendship, the Wonderbolts and -- most importantly -- The One And Only Rainbow Dash. http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=8er83h9Bbn8 Awwww yeah! Humanity would be utterly defeated in... Ten. Seconds. Flat.

Princess Of The Knight We can only speculate about the rules for titles in Equestria, but in the Real World, having a sibling become a prince or princess by marriage does not usually confer the title upon other siblings. As an example, the rules for British princesses are very particular and can be somewhat complicated. Technically, a British princess by marriage is not entitled to be styled "Princess <Firstname>". Even Diana, Princess of Wales, was not supposed to be addressed as "Princess Diana", but popular usage led to that title eventually being accepted by the crown. I don't think Twilight is a princess, nor is it likely that she bears any title other than as Princess Celestia's personal protege at the School for Gifted Unicorns, and as her "most faithful student". If Princess Celestia does have knights (and I think she does), it would be extremely unlikely (and unseemly) that her Captain of the Royal Guard would not be one of them. As mentioned above, I also think it possible that Twilight is a Knight of Canterlot in deed if not name, and she and her friends are certainly worthy of the highest honors Celestia can bestow. At the very least, they have been formally recognized by the Princess and have two stained glass windows dedicated to them in Canterlot castle. Not too many ponies alive today can say as much. Fig. 1: The only thing missing is the wookiee. However, neither Twilight nor her friends seem too concerned with such things as titles (except Rarity, of course), and considering the fact that none other than the immortal Ruler of Equestria accepts and returns direct, personal correspondence from any and all of them, they are clearly Very Important Ponies indeed (though nopony else seems to remember that fact, sort of a running gag, I suppose). There's potential for some fun with titles in future episodes, but I suspect the writers would prefer not to make things too stuffy for the Mane Six. After all, we love them for who they are, not what they are called.

The Best Knight Ever Since we're on the subject of titles, it occurs to me that as Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor might well be one of Princess Celestia's knights. Does Celestia have knights? One clue available to us is that she did use her horn to make the traditional gestures for styling knights to "dub" Twilight when she commissioned her and her friends to save Equestria (for the third time!) in The Return of Harmony, Part 1. Fig. 1: "The fate of Equestria is in your hooves." Those gestures have a very specific meaning in the code of chivalry, and though she did not explicitly bestow the title of Knight upon Twilight when she made them, to have a sovereign perform those gestures while entrusting her with a royal charge to save the entire nation may well have granted the de facto status of knighthood upon Twilight. If so, that would make her Dame Twilight, Knight of Canterlot. Granted, it's debatable as to whether that's the case and, as far as I know, Twilight is never referred to by that title, but still food for thought. And it also implies that Celestia does, in fact, grant knighthoods, making it quite possible that Shining Armor is Sir Shining as well as Captain and Prince. Or not. You decide. P.S. Also, Shining Armor's name gives us a bit of a hint that he may indeed be a "Knight in Shining Armor".

Dead And Harried Oh. My. Celestia. I can't believe they went there! And I'm surprised I didn't catch that, but in fairness, it was a rather quick cut during a CMC musical number. Still, it's right there for all to see. So there's Mr. Waddle, reading from a Bible during a funeral, and Sweetie Belle comes flying in, lands on his back, gives him a noogie, messes up his hair (such as it is) and sings "this one's too old" before leaping merrily away, leaving him clearly very upset. Fig. 1: Congratulations, old-timer. You're next. I mean damn! He's probably eulogizing a close friend who just died (Ponyville isn't a very big town, after all), and Sweetie Belle just bounces on in and carelessly disses him. During a funeral. Sweetie Belle, you are one cold filly. I hereby recant my claim about ponies never dying, marvel that they slipped this rather significant metaphysical tidbit into a sweet little song about finding Cheerilee "the perfect stallion", and very much appreciate your pointing this out. Nice catch! P.S. From the collar, it just dawned on me that Mr. Waddle is a priest. I wonder which denomination? It looks like a Catholic collar, but I tend to think of the ponies as generally being Celestians. Maybe Celestian priests wear those kinds of collars? And maybe instead of a Bible, he's quoting from the Book of Celestia, perhaps the same book Twilight was reading at the very beginning of the first episode of the series. I can hear him reading it now... "Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria..." Mind Officially Blown.

Only if the song begins with the words... “I am the lizard king. I can do anything.”

Love Beyond The Circles Of This World Essentially the story of Arwen and Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings. It's one of the reasons why Tolkienian Elves are so emo. It's also one of the first things that came to mind when I found out Cadance is an alicorn. It's not clear if Cadance is really like Celestia and Luna, though. Alicorns may not necessary live for thousands of years or be naturally powerful enough to control the sun and moon. The regal sisters may have become immortal somehow when they used the Elements to overthrow Discord, or due to some other cause, for example. Besides, ponies don't die. We'll never see a funeral in this show. So everypony will live Happily Ever After,™ and we need not worry our pretty little heads about it. As for the theory of Princess Cadance's origins, it's fun and imaginative, but I doubt we would see anything like it come from the show's writers. Cadance was written to be the perfect bride and foalsitter we never heard of before to marry the perfect big brother we never heard of before so that somepony could get royally married and provide a setup for an evil Queen we never heard of before to go all Disney on them. Filling in the blanks is always fun, however, and the official Olympic sport of pony fandom. As for future appearances of Shining Armor and Cadance, the most we'll probably see are maybe a cameo or two. If the characters prove popular enough, perhaps Hasbro might make a spin-off series, Everypony Loves Cadance, animated in front of a live audience cued by applause signs. If they didn't want to show it on The Hub, Fox would run it. They'll run anything.

If you're too busy, the tl;dr version is: it's not about the money.

An Embarrassment Of Riches Too late. The second paragraph of your post contradicts your first. As you said, she was born into it. That's all about her parents. She didn't get to choose what to be born into, wasn't taught how to properly behave and is entirely a product of her upbringing. It affects everything about her, from her world view to how she relates to and treats others. Children learn from their parents and tend to emulate them. Their personalities are heavily influenced by the personalities of their parents, who are their primary role models. Thus we can reasonably infer that Diamond Tiara is who she is because her parents are who they are. Fig. 1: Filthy Rich observes Put Your Daughter To Work Day. Her father pushed her into helping Granny Smith because he sells Zap Apple Jam. It's a key source of income for him. Note that he didn't put on any rabbit ears himself, and forcefully shoved her into helping out, publicly humiliating her all the while. Not good parenting. We can interpret his actions differently, but I don't think they cast him in a flattering light. He's still Diamond's father, and everything about her screams of a neglected child starved for affection. Granted, all this is talk about a fictional character, but Diamond Tiara embodies a well-known trope, and it's well-known because it's so common. So ultimately our opinions are projections upon what she symbolizes rather than her as an actual person. I believe she, like all snooty characters with abundant wealth and rotten personalities, symbolizes the bitterness that comes from feeling alone and unloved. Regardless of the reasons, an obnoxious brat is an obnoxious brat. Diamond undoubtedly knows she is one and knows it's wrong. She should strive to be a better person, knows it, doesn't, and probably hates herself for it. She's not blameless, and I don't presume to excuse her behavior, or the bad behavior of anyone. We are all responsible for our own behavior, whatever our reasons. But given the choice, I still think it's only fair when considering someone like Diamond Tiara to recognize how she got there, and no child ends up like that when she has attentive, loving parents to guide her in a better direction.

He's backpedaling harder than the Tour de France in reverse. So I wouldn't read too much into "Meghan's got plans....." Still, Discord + Chrysalis? I'm okay with that.

Big adventure Tons of fun A beautiful heart Faithful and strong Sharing kindness It's an easy feat And magic makes it all complete That's their formula and they're sticking to it.

Degrees Of Perfection I've been wrestling with this question since before Season Two ended, and have had to give it a lot more thought than I would have expected. Both seasons feature some of the finest visual art, music and overall entertainment I have ever seen in my life. Either could stand alone, and stand tall. Deciding between them is like deciding between excellent and outstanding, but when the dust settles, I find myself believing Season Two is the stronger season, and without disparaging or belittling Season One in any way by doing so.

It's fun to think the antagonism between Discord and Celestia could be the result of a centuries-old lover's quarrel, but the way Celestia described Discord's reign and how she and Luna overthrew him doesn't lead me to believe they were close enough for romance. Then again, as mentioned above, with de Lancie returning in Season Three, anything is possible. Who knows? Maybe he will turn over a new leaf and try to gain control over Equestria through the tender shackles of marriage. P.S. Pinkie x Discord is definitely the One True Pairing.

Now that Shining Armor and Princess Cadance are married, does that mean Twilight's brother is a prince? In the Real World, rules for the bestowal of royal titles vary from place to place, and a spouse may not always be eligible to claim a title based on marriage. But in The Ticket Master, Rarity, who has no doubt researched the matter thoroughly, claims she would become a princess if she married Prince Blueblood. Given that, and assuming eligibility for royal titles in Canterlot applies equally regardless of gender, that would mean Captain Shining Armor is now Prince Shining Armor. So not only is Twilight's sister-in-law a princess, her Big Brother Best Friend Forever is now a royal prince. Quite a family she has. Am I right about this?

A Diamond In The Rough My take on Diamond Tiara is that she's the typical spoiled rich girl who tries to raise herself up by putting down others. The reason people do this is always the same: they feel the need to raise themselves up. Their self-esteem is too weak on its own, so they seek alternatives to boost it. Ultimately, most arrogant behavior (I'm looking at you, Rainbow Dash) is driven by feelings of inadequacy and insecurity. If Diamond truly considered herself worthy of admiration, she wouldn't need to belittle anyone else. If we follow the spoiled rich girl trope faithfully, we can assume Diamond gets pretty much any material thing she demands, but is little more than an accessory in her parents' lives and spends much of her time alone, surrounded by opulence and starved of love. She's not stupid. She knows most of her "friends" despise her and that only leaves her feeling more isolated. She knows she shouldn't be such a jerk, but she can't help herself. She's afraid of what would happen if she ever told anyone how she really felt, that she's sorry she's like that and wants to change, but she can't. She's afraid they would look down on her, and that's the one thing above all she cannot allow to happen. When I encounter people who act the way Diamond does in the real world, they are as transparent as glass. Despite their obnoxious behavior, I tend to sympathize with them, because they are almost always driven by desperation. People who are happy are not mean. People who are mean behave that way because they are in pain. Once I figured that out, life got a lot easier. While not everyone can be reached, a surprisingly large percentage can be reasoned with once you get past the defensive bluster. What Diamond needs is a friend to buy her lunch, insist on paying, and ask her honestly and sincerely how things are at home. Someone willing to do that would almost certainly find a good, sweet and lonely soul behind that snarky facade, and it would almost certainly be worth the effort.

Let The Music Do The Talking! Wow, great collection! Anderson and Ingram are music gods as far as I'm concerned. Their work is amazing. Of course, if I'm requesting something that's already available and missed it, please let me know. Also, if featured songs (i.e., "non-BGM") aren't a priority, or if a song doesn't require dialog removal and you wouldn't want to bother for that reason, I can certainly understand. But even if little processing is required, having the music extracted is still handy, and if you're looking for suggestions, I can recommend some superb examples for the queue: S02E07: The Find A Pet Song. The most epic pony duet ever, a brilliant pairing of Ashleigh and Andrea, and a tribute to the finest show tunes Broadway and Hollywood have to offer. A good clean rip of that with sound effects minimized would be like the Second Coming. S02E08: Rainbow Chases The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well. Mare-Do-Well's theme is some of Anderson's best scoring, and it's found throughout the episode, but the final chase scene is incredible. Fans have compared it to Danny Elfman's work for Batman: The Animated Series, but with the utmost of respect for the legendary Mr. Elfman, I have to say I think Anderson has outdone him. This is music worth catching. S02E16: Daring Do's Musical Cues. A compilation of the cues for Daring Do, from Rainbow first being tempted to read the book to the perils of the temple to her defeat of Ahuizotl, with sound effects and dialog/narration removed, would be a feat of renown. It would also be a lot of work, because Ashleigh narrates over pretty much all of it. But it's great music, if you're looking for a challenge. S02E18: Smile Smile Smile. A version of this without the "hellos" and "howdies" (or left in, artistic choice) would be excellent. This is one of those songs that starts out simple and leads to an epic conclusion. Pinkie's fanbase jumped 63% after this song aired. Anyway, I know these things don't happen on their own, nor right away, that you'll be vacationing soon (grats!) and hiatuses ("hiati?") are a fact of life, so these are just suggestions, and certainly not demands. But as your time and interest permit at some point in the future, I can attest you will definitely have at least one "customer" if you and/or your collaborators decide to take any of these on. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a few songs to listen to... P.S. If Hasbro ever does OST releases for this show, I would buy them in a heartbeat, on reflex, no deliberation required.

"Friendship Warriors... ASSEMBLE!" They should do what they did with The Powerpuff Girls and ship it off to Japan for an anime retooling. They could call the anime version something ultra cool like All-Purpose Cultural Pony Girl Twilight Sparkle, but considering the state of the business these days, I'm guessing they would probably go with something gallingly orthodox like Pony Power Z. The Mane Six would be a super sentai of high-tech, katana-wielding ninja warriors who fight crime. They would take on the big bosses by assembling into a giant ponybot called Princess Celestia 9000, who would confront villains in downtown Tokyo and wantonly destroy half the city as they fight the villain of the week. They would all, of course, be high school students who would keep their true identities secret, would have a cute little moe-ball cat- or rodent-like pet with magical powers, would have exaggerated traits (Twilight would be even brainier and nerdier, Rarity stuck up and more fashion-obsessed, Rainbow a bullying jock, etc.) and would have at least one beach and/or bath house episode per season. And possibly more. They would, of course, be fully human, except for their pony ears and pony tails, which they would either hide or cleverly integrate with their obligatory sailor-style school uniforms and "civilian clothes". Oh yes, and Spike would be a little green alien with an insatiable appetite for wagashi. It would probably flop in Japan, like most such shows do, but they could make it up shipping cheap DVDs and doujins to America and selling them for ridiculous prices to drooling, OCD-ravaged Yankee otaku. It's the perfect plan. Hasbro should hire me to make this happen.

May The Best Pet Win! Not at all. That was my first choice, because from the opening dream sequence to the killer musical number to Rainbow's over-the-top boyish antics, it's one of my favorite episodes of the entire series and definitely an episode any guy can like. But since then, God-Animators of Equestria have blessed us with the Holy Grail (or Holy Hand Grenade) of "guy episodes"... Read It And Weep Very well said! Whether conscious or subconscious, the parallels are uncanny. It's got everything, from Rainbow crashing and ending up in the hospital (a wonderland of in-jokes and sight gags), to her awkward discovery of the joy of reading, to everypony's favorite adventure heroine Daring Do. That anyone could watch Daring's brilliant Indiana Jones send-ups and not absolutely fall in love with the show on the spot is inconceivable, and probably not possible without violating several known laws of the universe. But perhaps most importantly, it's a Rainbow Dash episode. And as everyone knows, Rainbow Dash Is Best Pony.™ What more could anyone need?