Dark Qiviut

Corey Powell (the newest writer at the time) started off splendidly in the factually fantastic Sleepless in Ponyville, developing Scootaloo’s character as well as Scootaloo’s relationship with Rainbow Dash, and it was her turn again in Just for Sidekicks. The idea of Spike petsitting the Mane Six’s pets was great and better with the the Cutie Mark Crusaders' randomness. Unfortunately, JfS contains one of the biggest flaws in the series: the incapability to characterize Spike consistently as a main character. Just like Owl's Well that Ends Well and Spike at Your Service, his characterization and character development are tossed out the window. Various strengths include: "Don't have your cake and it, too" was the main moral in this episode, but it was cleverly hidden in the canon despite the fact that it was in your face since the beginning. Instead of telling the moral, it was progressively shown in several basic steps. Show, don't tell. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were brilliant. In her two episodes, they were written really well with intact, three-dimensional characterization. Sweetie Belle was cute as usual, and both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo are eager yet still different to where they're not carbon copies of each other. The pets were absolutely great. Previously, the pets (minus some exceptions) tended to appear once or twice and then forgotten. This was the episode where they all shone, from Winona to Owlowiscious to Gummy to lovable Tank to the Angel from hell (who played his role as antagonist while not going overboard — and with good reasons — unlike his out-of-character behavior in Putting Your Hoof Down). There's extremely dedicated kinship between the Mane Six and their pets. From the way they talked and behaved with their pets, it's obvious that they're extremely close. The cutest was Rainbow Dash and Tank and how Dash tried to hide it in her typical tomcoltish fashion. Cute and funny. Angel's extreme suspicions with Spike. Since the beginning of the episode, he obviously didn't like the way Spike was handling himself and did whatever he could to embarrass the hell out of him and show to the Mane Six that he only took care of their pets for his own greed. The little tidbits of Spike having to release Peewee back where he belongs. Through the pictures, Peewee was a great and troublesome little phoenix, yet still meant well. I'm glad he's back with his parents, but it's a little disappointing and unfortunate that we may likely never see him in the series again. (I hope FIM brings him back someday.) The concept of the episode was simple, but fits the scope of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic very well. The background ponies are back again, which is good because without background characters, regardless of the beautiful graphics, the atmosphere is dead. With them showing up, it gave Ponyville, the Friendship Express, and Crystal Empire station life. The world of MLP:FIM needs that to engage itself to the audience. The pace was so smooth here. It flowed from one scene to the next without any need to rush, a role reversal from Keep Calm and Flutter On, Spike at Your Service, Games Ponies Play, Magical Mystery Cure, and Equestria Girls. Just like Keep Calm and Flutter On, there were layers of foreshadowing throughout to hint where the episode would travel and resolve. Four big clues include the cake, Angel’s attitude, Spike giving away the jewels one by one, and Zecora warning him in her usual rhyming self to not lust for his delicious jewels. Hey, look! Spike’s ability to cook was back! Unfortunately, his continuous appetite for jewels bit him… Thankfully, unlike his out-of-character incompetence in Spike at Your Service, he actually wasn’t aloof, careless, or stupid in handling things. He knew right away he messed up and decided to fix it. Unfortunately, there are three key problems. Fluttershy was out of character in the beginning. While it made sense for her (and the others) to exchange gems to Spike in exchange for him petsitting, the way she did it was very off-putting: the transparent way she manipulated and convinced him to petsit Angel. Keep Calm’s method of manipulating Discord into eating his own words was extremely intelligent, clever, and hidden. It was a great twist. Here, it was very inorganic. If the approach was softer and didn’t intentionally tug Spike’s greed, then it might’ve gotten somewhere. Equestria’s geography and sense of time (from a writing perspective) are very disorganized (a common issue in the series), and there is no railway realism. The Crystal Empire and Ponyville are presumably separated by at least several hundred miles. From the way the script was written, the trip lasted a couple of hours to the Empire and then back, as it was still daylight out there. No saddle tank engine (especially one that size) would travel this far for this long without a stop at the station, switch of trains, and visit to the water tower to fill up the tank and/or coal hopper to refill the bunker. And the train ride would definitely not make a round trip this quickly within a day, either. Spike himself was completely unrecognizable. Just like Spike at Your Service, the Spike featured on the screen in JfS wasn’t Spike, but rather an imposter. Besides his ability to cook and grouse after realizing he wasn’t invited to the Equestria Games, his characterization and development from the rest of series were nonexistent. Instead of being completely careless in every single thing he did like in Spike at Your Service, this drastic bastardization in his character shifted to the other side of the scale. He was greedy, selfish, and manipulative; he didn't care about the pets at all. Instead of a balance between selfishness and selflessness throughout, it was segregated, with his selfishness used as a headache-inducing comedic plot device for almost the entire episode until the very end. He took advantage of his friends (as well as their trust for him) and used their pets as pawns to make his jewel cake. In season two, the two episodes starring him included two huge facets that helped him grow into a much more selfless character: a. In Secret of My Excess, we saw how much greed in a dragon can consume his or her soul. Spike since learned about the dangers of greed. b. In Dragon Quest, Spike wanted to find his own in the dragon world, so he joined the migration, where he bumped into some very antagonist, one-dimensional teenaged dragons. But here, he also learned about how precious life and caretaking were when he refused to destroy the phoenix egg. He wasn't going to give in to peer pressure from other dragons. Even in his short time, it's obvious he cared so much for Peewee. It's particularly the absence of his development from Dragon Quest where there was such a big problem here. He wasn't going to sacrifice anyone's lives for the sake of sticking with the clan. But he also knew that being someone's caretaker required massive responsibilities, and Spike is someone who can hold his own despite messing up occasionally. For example, in Magic Duel, he was the one who kept the team together while Twilight was exiled in the Everfree Forest. It was a small scene quantitatively, but it gave him so much depth in his character. Here, he showed no care for the pets at all, a complete contradiction of Dragon Quest's resolution/moral and his affection and love for Peewee himself. This is a task that requires so much trust, and Spike give no damn about what they were thinking until the very end. He came across as antagonistic, making him an unlikeable, out-of-character shell. Even with a jewel cake that he would so love to bake, he knows very well that petsitting is a heavy responsibility, particularly at this stage of the series. What an in-character Spike would REALLY do is put the cake business beside him and take care of the pets while they're gone. And he (and maybe Owlowiscious) would be the ones disciplining the pets, especially Angel, whose trust for Spike and the other pets are thinner and more fragile than the graphite of a mechanical pencil. He may retain those thoughts about the cake, which would create conflict, but he'll promise to himself that he'll take his time disciplining the pets and sacrifice his cake willingly. Once he's done, then maybe he'll get jewels as a reward, and maybe he can successfully bake his cake (attempting to taste a jewel, but warned by Owlowiscious before he does), or he chooses not to bake it voluntarily. That way, the moral of "don't have all of your cake and eat it, too" can still fit yet keep Spike in character. Frankly, this would have been much better if it were a season one or season two episode (pre-SoME or pre-DQ), where he wasn't given a lot of development and still had that extremely selfish streak in him. But it took place late in season three, and he received so much character development since the premiere. Therefore, it stuck out and just didn't fit him. This growth of his personality was absent in Just for Sidekicks. Spike is a character with several important roles in Season 3. Despite being minute, they helped him grow as a more mature character. To see that growth reversed in this season’s two Spike-centered episodes is a huge disappointment. It's an even bigger disappointment here because Powell is an excellent writer with Emmy Award nominations to her credit. I've seen her work, so she has the experience and wherewithal to do so great. Sleepless in Ponyville is one of the best episodes in the entire series and was an amazing debut. She showed exactly what she could do there and even here in many places. To see that potential fall flat with an out-of-character Spike in Just for Sidekicks is unfortunate. This was an episode with both a great concept and moral, and it was filled with so much potential. The Cutie Mark Crusaders and the pets were filled with character that resulted in plenty of laughs and conflict. But Spike was the focus in Just for Sidekicks, and he was extremely poorly written. One of the biggest reasons Spike at Your Service was bad was because he was written as carelessly incompetent, but even there did he show plenty of care for others. Here, his extreme selfishness and lust for a jewel cake were a sudden flip of his character development, and he didn't behave like Spike one damn bit. Overall, the third-worst episode in Season 3 and my most hated FIM episode overall.

As season three dwindled down, John de Lancie returned to voice Discord in Keep Calm and Flutter On. Fluttershy is the central character and pony responsible for “reforming” Discord from a chaotic, dastardly villain into a chaotically neutral character/mild antagonist. Conceptualized by Teddy Antonio and written by Dave Polsky, the path to Discord’s “redemption” made sense in some way, and there were plenty of clues leading towards it, all the meanwhile being contained via a very cramped pace. Some of the strengths are as follows: The characters, but one (I’ll explain it later), are in character and alive. Every single one of them, from Applejack to Discord to Fluttershy, acted like them. Their roles, behaviors, and responses made sense throughout. And it even kept going up to the very end although Discord was “fully cured.” There was so much foreshadowing. It wasn't one surprise to another. Each event led to another and made the episode feel complete. Here's what I mean: The Angry Beaver who didn't give a dam about Applejack's farm. This event hinted the huge dams and flood later in the episode. Discord's sneaky trick with his tail. When he snapped his fingers, the beavers were put under a trance, and they built the dams that flooded Sweet Apple Acres (which Discord later froze into a lake of ice). Discord eating the paper. This foreshadowed Twilight's plan to forcefully reform Discord, and he was one step ahead of her plan. When Twilight and the others left, they conversed a backup plan to forcefully reform him in front of Fluttershy's door. I won't be surprised if Discord heard them and, with his magic, stole the spells and ate the paper. Fluttershy declaring Discord as a friend. Discord intended to be buddy-buddy with her, but Fluttershy's words to Discord were kind and sincere. For a cold character such as Discord, it's something that he almost never hears and notices: actual warmth in conversation and belief that his exterior and treacherous trickery can be broken down by kind words and attitude. But he still manipulated the Mane Six and severed his trust she had for him. That line he spilled as Fluttershy rejected his manipulation and stormed off broke down the last bits of that block of cement and put that moment in the dinner party to full circle. [*]The Deus Ex Machina was defeated early. One of Too Many Pinkie Pie's biggest flaws came midway, where Spike discovered the book from inside a secret cupboard that led to the Legend of the Mirror Pond. The trick of Twilight forcing Discord to reform (only to have it being eaten) was an extremely clever and hilarious take in poking fun at this plot device. [*]For once, Fluttershy isn’t depicted as a cowardly Timidshy. Instead, she’s Flutterbrave. For the first time since Return of Harmony, Part 2, Fluttershy’s character development was front and center. She didn’t act or behave weakly and spinelessly. She had the gall to go out there, act within her Element, and behave in a way that shows who she should be instead of who she was since RoH2. [*]Discord's plan to manipulate Fluttershy into having her promise not to use the Elements of Harmony against him, only to have this plan both work AND fail. When he was released, he composed a plan to trick Fluttershy and take advantage of her kindness and assertiveness. All of those tricks were used in order to embarrass and humiliate her friends and convert her to his side. However, in the dinner party, he began to enjoy her company, and he was starting to at least have a heart for friendship, for his heart was as cold as stone. This enjoyment of her company made him spill those lines and compassion. [*]The game he played worked for him, but also against him. "Well-played, Fluttershy. Well-played" is the best line in the entire episode (perhaps the entire season, with the exception of "I quit!" from Rainbow Dash and that line from Granny Smith in Apple Family Reunion dictating the possibility of not having so many family members attending the next reunion) proved how she beat him in his own game. That said, there are two obvious flaws. I’ll explain the smallest of them first before explaining the most obvious objective flaw. Celestia in the beginning of the episode is out of character. She’s supposed to be portrayed as a wise, kind ruler with good judgment and good reasons for her motives. Her motive for having Discord redeemed is short, weak, and unconvincing, thereby making her look rather unintelligent. By default, the Mane Six should’ve questioned Celestia even more, but doing that would’ve sacrificed the short amount of time needed for Polsky to develop the script. The pace is TOO DAMN FAST and too unrealistic. From the get-go, the entire plot held its collective breath, but instead of giving it time to exhale and calm down, it was on the verge of passing out. Writing a great pace for storytelling is a lot like aerobic exercising. You start the pace nice and slowly, but not too slow to where you plod on the treadmill. Afterwards, you slowly build up your momentum and energy, and you start to lose some fat and build up that cardio. For a couple of minutes, you race and make your heart pump quickly. But instead of doing it for so long, you slow down, allow yourself to compose, and take a sip of water from the bottle or thermos beside you. By doing this method, you let the oxygen flow. However, the person doing the exercise routine, which is the pace in KCaFO, didn’t take any time for water and held his breath, then exhaled for a quarter of a second, and then suddenly held it for another minute, if not longer. This kept on going, and the plot never had time to breathe and calm down for a short amount of time. Because of the very quick pace, Discord’s redemption was developed inorganically. Here is a guy who’s been the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony for as long as King Big Bang created the Earth and the entire pony canon. He gave Celestia, Luna, and all of Equestria such hell, he was sealed as a stone statue for a millennia. When the seal broke, Discord never relented, creating such delicious havoc and would’ve beaten the Mane Six if Celestia didn’t send the friendship letters to Twilight Quitter. Then in a matter of around twelve hours, Discord went from a villain to a chaotically neutral antagonist? While the path and ideas to redeem Discord make sense, the poor pace gives it very little sense. Discord's redemption would've been much better if the plot was slowed down, altered, split into two parts (just like another episode that’ll come up soon), and have the duration of his redemption last for more than twelve hours. Instead of constant rapid and quick sequences to the point where the viewer can't fully grasp the actions and consequences during, slow down the pace and space out the chaos so the audience catched up. Have Fluttershy converse with the others and maybe have a scene where Discord can talk about his coldness and love to make lives hell. Maybe have him create some chaos, but then think otherwise and keep the magic chaotic but fun. He can still have his moments, but he’ll feel warmer to the others and vice-versa. The development of Discord's friendship with Fluttershy would feel more natural and not as compacted as a tall man squeezing inside an old Geo Metro three-door. Keep Calm and Flutter On continues the pace of presenting really bold ideas into Season 3, the others being Magic Duel, Wonderbolts Academy, and Magical Mystery Cure. There was great characterization, abundant foreshadowing, and an appearance of Fluttershy as if she had character development instead of character regression. Discord, meanwhile, still retains his character, but is now more mellowed. With him no longer a block of stone, the writers have ample opportunity to create loose roles and gags for him in season four. While it was a great idea conceptually, the cramped pace really injured KCaFO’s plausibility, and expanding it to a two-parter in script and two-to-three-day event in canon would’ve made Discord’s development sensible and much more organic in execution. Altogether, an objectively okay, yet very weak, episode.

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Sometime ago, I posted a blog about developing a writing an FIM fanfic adaptation of Thomas & Friends/The Railway Series, which you can read here. While it hasn't changed, my plan is to reboot it and incorporate elements of The Railway Series and TV adaptation in the show. Like The Railway Series, there would be collections of stories, mostly up to four, within a Book. In the beginning of each book would be a letter from the author to the reader, similar to what Rev. W. Awdry and Christopher Awdry did in their books. I already compiled a whole, unedited summary of the very first book, titled "Book 0: Twilight Sparkle." The whole book is in a summary below. Open the "spoiler" tag to read it.