Henny Penny Benny

What exactly is going on with dragons in the FIM universe? First, how do dragons age and grow? Are their aging and growing even concurrent with each other? As we saw in Secret of My Excess, dragons can grow significantly in size simply by amassing hoards of stuff, so growth doesn't seem to necessarily have anything to do with age. Dragons do seem to live for a long time, though, as the dragon from Dragonshy was about to take a hundred-year nap. I suppose it would make some sense if dragons grow exclusively by hoarding. Spike grew so quickly because he's surrounded only by ponies, who can't do a whole lot to stop him, but in the Dragon Lands, it would be much, much harder for dragons to amass sizable hoards, what with all the other dragons stealing from them to grow their own hoards. But does that mean that dragons don't grow in size due to age whatsoever? Do they even age at all? Second, where the balls were all the dragons during Gauntlet of Fire???? There appeared to be dozens, if not hundreds, of full-grown, enormous dragons taking part in the dragon migration, but the only dragons who answered the Dragon Lord's summons were "teenage" dragons, and not even all that many of them. So what happened to all the dragons? Do they live somewhere other than Equestria? After all, the Dragon Lord did address the "dragons of Equestria," not all dragons necessarily. Does the Dragon Lord only have authority over Equestrian dragons? Was there some catastrophic event that wiped out most of the dragons? Did Tirek, perhaps, destroy them in the brief time he held all the magical power? Are the full-grown dragons simply too lazy to answer the summons? Were they napping? Did they just not want to leave their hoards? What's going on??

This episode raises a couple questions in my mind: 1. Where did all the full-grown dragons go? We've seen several enormous, adult dragons in the show—the one from Dragonshy, and a few in Dragon Quest—but it seemed like all the dragons who showed up for the gauntlet were teenagers. Are the adult dragons just really, really lazy? Did they all die off somehow? What happened??? 2. How exactly do dragons age? (Not necessarily a question raised by this episode specifically, but it brought it to my mind.) In Secret of My Excess, Spike grows into a full-size dragon over the space of a day or two by hoarding a lot, so why are there so many perpetually teenaged dragons? One thought I had is that Spike had an easy time hoarding a lot in Ponyville, but it wouldn't be as easy for dragons in the dragon lands to amass large hoards, because they'd all be stealing each other's stuff to grow their own hoards. But is hoarding all there is to dragon growth? Do they not grow or age naturally over time? Perhaps they age with time, but only grow larger and mature physically by hoarding? I'd love for the show to explore this in more detail some time.

I'm just gonna leave this here....

Fan Constumes 2015! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPyhaxA6L88 Flash version: http://homestarrunner.com/fanstumes15.html

Is it just me, or does Marzipan's voice sound... different? I mean, it's still probably Missy's voice, but it just sounds like she's a bit out of practice with it. Also, the title of the flash webpage is "St. Cadaverstump's Home for Wayward Sbemails." Foreshadowing? A hint at what be to come?

Yup! To me it seems clear that she experienced a major and life-changing turnaround in her worldview. She is no longer the same little filly who bullied the other kids, but instead she is a new pony with a new outlook and a new heart full of kindness. She certainly ain't perfect, and I'm sure she's got a ways to go in learning how to really live that way, but she has put her old self behind her, so I have no problem forgiving her.

Definitely need to take it less seriously. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCeJp33beKE I watched this video from Animated James earlier today, and what it made me realize is that this fandom has a tendency at times to treat MLP like holy scripture. Some people almost seem to have founded their entire ideologies on the mantra of "love and tolerate" and the elements of harmony. Which, quite frankly, is sheer nonsense. It's not a far cry from saying that Laurent Faust was a prophet and FIM was her divine message to the world. Is FIM an entertaining show? Absolutely! Is it a sensible basis for a worldview or ideology? Not. Even. Close. Ultimately, at the end of the day, it's just a show. A show that's brought people together, sure—arguably even a show that has made a significant impact on a great many people—but still just a show. It has no inherent, long-term significance. It won't be around forever, and neither will the brony fandom. If humanity still survives ten thousand years from now, it's more than likely no one will even remember that such a show ever existed. I'm not trying to devalue it as a show. For what it is, it's pretty good. But I'd say at best it's downright silly to overvalue it, to regard it as more than what it is, and what it is, is entertainment.

So hey. I wrote a poem. Thoughts? I look down at him He stares back up at me Silent Still Blank Empty I wait for him to make a move I wait Wait He waits for me, too Waves pass between us Rise and fall Ebb and flow The murky water hiding what lies below We hold each others gaze Watching Waiting As the flowing water Carries us away As I stare He stares back Just outside my reach A breath beyond my grasp My oldest friend We're never apart Yet never quite together I reach for him He reaches back But never can we touch, The rippling waves Our soft but rigid veil I turn He turns too As I walk away He's gone Until next I pay a visit To my shadow on the pond

In the short term, often the most helpful thing is simply to take my mind off of it. That can be by running, reading, playing a game, or just doing basically anything that requires direct attention. When I'm in the middle of an anxiety attack, that's usually what I need. Long-term, though, that doesn't solve the underlying issue, which is my thought patterns. Now, obviously I can't speak for everyone since I only know my own experiences, but in my experience, anxiety tends to be primarily a result of the thoughts I choose to think. I get into patterns and habits of thinking negative thoughts that trigger anxiety. The solution, then, is to recognize the thoughts that trigger my anxiety and replace them with better, higher, more positive thoughts. It's often extremely difficult and requires a great deal of discipline, but it certainly helps to have the Bible as a firm, objective source of truth in my life to replace the lies I choose to dwell on.

I haven't grown out of it entirely, but I'm not as wild about the show as I used to be. Probably has at least something to do with the fact that I'm getting married to a woman who has absolutely no interest in the show. But I still watch the new episodes every week! I just don't geek out about it quite so much anymore.

No, I don't pass moral or evaluative judgment on them, but judging an individual is not the same as regarding an individual's actions or behavior as sinful. And in my previous comment, I made no such statement on the latter point.

No. Homophobes, racists, and sexists are human beings. If I regarded people as extremely distasteful simply because of the things they did, I'd have to regard myself as extremely distasteful, because I've done plenty of horrible things in my time, too. I'm in no position to pass moral or evaluative judgment on anyone for his or her beliefs, lifestyle, or choices.

No, I really didn't, and I apologize if my post came off that way. My example was purely for the sake of example. I doubt the sign was specifically targeted at religious people, but as a religious person, I've seen many instances where "homophobe" is essentially used as a derogatory term for any conservative religious person. And such instances comprise a significant portion of times I've heard people slinging the word around, so it does have a bit of a stinging connotation in my mind. I wouldn't accuse this shop owner of using the word in that way, because I don't know his intentions, but I would proffer that he ought to have been a bit more considerate and realized that the word is commonly used in this derogatory way and thus might very well offend many people whom he had no intention of offending. Disagree on both points. I have no right to judge someone as an individual, and "asshole-ish" is a purely subjective term that means scarcely anything more than "extremely distasteful to me personally."

Also unlike being homosexual, being an asshole is an insult and purely subjective, not a legitimate or objectively meaningful description of a person.

My what ifs may not be appropriate in the context, but neither was this gentleman's lumping together of all "racists," "sexists," "homophobes," and "assholes" simply because one individual did something rude.