Red Cedar

Lauren Faust was the reason the show has lasted to seven seasons as it is, along with the writers she brought in (few of whom remain, sadly). The Brony fandom came about during her tenure and it was due to her work on the show.

First of all, I don't think it was Hasbro that got hacked. DHX did. And being simply an animation studio who probably never had to deal with anything like this ever before they probably just weren't prepared for this kind of breech.

As for Hasbro, while it's annoying to them, perhaps, they probably aren't too worried. In the end, it's publicity for their product and generates interest, even if the message wasn't as controlled as they would have liked.

@PathfinderCS

Applejack pondered Trixie's question quietly for a moment. Certainly, Trixie had a point about Twilight not having guards, but Applejack couldn't imagine it herself. "I think it boils down to her philosophy an' all." she eventually replied. "I don't think Twilight would feel right goin' around callin' herself the Princess of Friendship while she had a bunch of guards around her, some of whom could look downright unfriendly." She winced a little as she tried rolling her stiff foreleg once more, testing her shoulder. "Mind you, I think part of her is still getting used to the whole idea of bein' a Princess. I mean, Equestria knows her as Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and she still thinks of herself as Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville's head librarian."

I was working at a casino at the time, so I'm not sure if "met" is the right word, but I will always think about how cool it was to talk about Lenny Kravitz' new (at the time) version of the song American Woman with Burton Cummings, who sang the original with the Guess Who.

@Randimaxis

Your go.

Nothing in the movie really made me feel uncomfortable. I mean, horrible things happened to every pony in both the Changelings' takeover and Tirek's rampage across the world. What surprised me, however, was the undeniable depiction of physical violence perpetrated by Tempest Storm, the likes of which I don't think we've seen in the show before.

On 11/16/2017 at 9:36 AM, RulesofRarity said:

What exactly did Trixie do to deserve to be punished? Our protagonists acted like complete assholes towards her for no reason which resulted in her being mocked & being unable to do her job. I can totally understand her wanting revenge against Twilight and co. In addition, a lot of the bad stuff that Trixie did in the "Magic Duel" episode was because she was under the influence of the amulet. Starlight, in comparison, decided to mess with time completely under her own free will. Her stupidity could've resulted in Equestria being reduced to a barren wasteland(where I assume every pony either evacuated or died), to me that's far more "malicious" than anything Trixie did with or without the amulet.

I agree, Trixie did not deserve the treatment she received, even if she was an insufferable, arrogant egotist. But what did she do? Seek restitution through the courts against Snips and Snails (or their parents) for waking an Ursa Minor that subsequently destroyed her trailer? No! She went out and found a dark magic amulet, the very possession of which should have been illegal and landed both Trixie and the unscrupulous dealer in Tartarus, and then used it to enslave a town, whether that was her intention from the outset or not. There was definitely an issue of a disproportionate level of response here.

Two reasons:

1. The decision to include Starlight Glimmer as a recurring character in the series was only made as they started scripting season 6. By then the movie's voicing had been recorded and so the script was pretty much set.

2. According to at least one writer, Starlight Glimmer wasn't supposed to be a recurring character in the series in the first place. It was supposed to be Sunset Shimmer. The third Equestria Girls movie was originally slated to be the last, at which point Sunset was to return to Equestria, but the powers that be at Hasbro decided Equestria Girls as a spinoff was doing well enough that they did a fourth movie and are now doing a series.

@Randimaxis

Applejack found her cheeks staying remarkably warm over a longer time than she had in a while, first at Groovi's description of the feelings brought back by her memories, which she had to admit were spot on, then by her assessment of Applejack's place in the hearts and minds of others in Ponyville. She truthfully never knew what to think of that. She was well aware of it, of course. The reminders were constant. But Applejack had a hard time thinking of herself as anything but Applejack the farmer, when others saw her as Applejack the hero.

Placing her last basket, she sighed and shook her head. "Yeah, I know what ponies think about me. I mean, I'm happy if just havin' me around boosts morale, an' all, but really, I don't know what to make of it all." Returning to the surface, she wiped her brow with her fetlock and sat down. "Honestly, I never think of myself as bein' anything special. It's just so weird to me. I'm glad I could help Twilight help Equestria, but I don't think I did anything any other pony wouldn't have done if they were in my place."

Finally getting the hang of Groovi's way of speaking, she added, "Well, I'd like to get another cartload underground before sundown, but I get yer meanin'. We can take a break for a bit." She got up from where she had sat just long enough to take her into the shade of the nearest tree, waving to Groovi to join her, then sat down again. "And, I sure wouldn't mind if you decide to come back again another day. You've been a great help, and I think I can rustle up enough Zap Apple Jam for an honest day's work."

All right. I'll let you take the lead on where things go for the time being, then.

@PathfinderCS

Your go. also, was there anything in particular you wanted to bring up or shall we get these two out of there? Or let them suffer a good long time?

@PathfinderCS

Applejack nodded. "Yeah, poor Twilight practically had a riot happen in her dining room. It was not a pretty sight at all." she said, still shuddering at the thought after all this time. "Thing is, you never seem to know what's going to set them off, and by the time you do, well, you're picking up the pieces by then." She took another deep breath, putting aside her blanket now that the heat of the day was beginning to be felt. "Luckily, Pinkie Pie turned out to be quite the negotiator."

Applejack turned to look back out the hole in the hull. She'd tried her best to keep her spirits up all this time and stay optimistic, but a sigh escaped her lips.

Keep in mind, the fans who might not like Starlight's inclusion because she hasn't faced justice are often the same ones that would argue against the same justice being applied to Trixie just because they like her. And Trixie was a lot more malicious in some instances.

My take away from all this is that despite the existence of a magical super-max prison like Tartarus, Equestrian Justice is really, really weak.

It was, perhaps, not cinema at its finest (and would have been up against Pixar's Coco) but it should have been sent for consideration anyway. Sia might have liked a best song nod.

On 11/5/2017 at 6:29 AM, JonasDarkmane said:

This might be a good idea if this is tied in with good behavior. We once had a discussion on trying to find an incentive on increasing good behavior and to try and demonstrate for others to follow such paths (the idea of reward for doing the right thing over the idea of punishment for doing the wrong thing (sociology)). 

If this can incentivize people to show good behavior and inspire others to do so, I think this could be a great idea. 

A system like this would be even more open to abuse by staff.

Yes, and sarcasm totally assuages my concerns.

Unforunately, this sounds like another opportunity for cronyism to me.

@Randimaxis

Applejack just smirked and shook her head as her cheeks turned a deeper red than before. One of these days she'd learn the line between being honest and giving out too much information, but not yet apparently.

"Well, it's not really much of a crush." she finally admitted. "All that happened was this stallion from out of town came to my cart in the market one time. I mean, sure, he was easy to look at, and all, and he had trees for a cutie mark, so that got me interested, too. But it was just the one time I saw him and besides, it looked like he already had a filly friend." With a heave and a heavy breath of air, she hefted another basket onto the shelf. "But, I'd be lyin' if I said I didn't think back on it."

Applejack wasn't quite sure what a "hep cat" was, but the way Groovi said it with a smile on her face led her to believe it couldn't be a bad thing. "I'll definitely make sure you and Apple Bloom get the chance to have a chat. I'm sure she'd be happier than a pig in a blanket!" Even Applejack had to admit her younger sister had a way with other ponies like few others. If she could have formed a bond over one holiday with a pony like Pinkie Pie's sister, she could do it with anypony, so Applejack felt sure she and Groovi would get along great.

@PathfinderCS

Your go.

@Randimaxis

Your go.

@PathfinderCS

Applejack couldn't help but smirk a little at Trixie's story. It wasn't that she was finding anything funny about Trixie's past predicament, only that it was far too similar to one she'd seen herself. "I hear ya there," she said. "Some of 'em came to Ponyville on a diplomatic visit, but we had a hard time finding anything diplomatic about them. Twilight was just about at her wits' end tryin' to figure them out." That had been putting it mildly. Twilight had nearly been in a total panic before Pinkie Pie helped smooth things over. "Some of the ways they do things still don't totally make sense to me."

Applejack settled back to relax as much as possible, leaning on one side to take as much of her weight off her sore leg as she could, and gazed out the hole in the hull as the day got progressively brighter and warmer.

@Randimaxis

Applejack smiled more broadly as she found out that she and Groovi certainly seemed to be on the same... how would she put it?... wavelength when it came to kids. "Boy, you said it!" she said as she opened the doors to the stairs leading down into the apple cellar and then to shifting a basket of apples onto her back to put them in place on the shelves tucked in below. "That's exactly how my little sister is, too! There ain't no one she wouldn't want to help if she could. Y'all definitely have to meet her before you go!" she explained, beaming with a near-motherly pride.

As she placed her first basket onto the shelf next to the others, her eyebrow raised up almost under the brim of her hat at Groovi's next question, but she smirked nonetheless. "Aw, I ain't got a crush on anypony," she started to explain. "I mean, all the stallions in town around my age are great folks, but none of 'em are the right fit, or we've known each other so long we can't picture ourselves bein' anything other'n friends." With a sharp intake of breath, she hoisted another basket onto her back and began carefully trotting back down into the cellar. "Besides, they weren't like..." she began, then cut herself off suddenly, lowering the brim of her hat to obscure her face.

@PathfinderCS

Your go.

Okay, I know this was supposed to be an episode about not letting your appearance or anything else out of your control affect your self-confidence or self esteem. And that's a good message. Unfortunately, there seemed to be one gaping hole in the way they did it. We've seen the effect Poison Joke has on Rarity and we've seen on Fluttershy that the effect tends to repeat itself when the same pony encounters Poison Joke a subsequent time. So why didn't they use the same sort of Poison Joke potion they used on Fluttershy to recreate Rarity's massive hair growth and they cure her to normality, needing only a trip to the manedresser?

@PathfinderCS

Trixie was clearly chomping at the bit to get up and do something after a day stuck in the broken hull of an airship. So had Applejack been, but she was now beginning to regret it as she gingerly tried to move her left foreleg around after her trip around the hull. "Well, we still got a couple more of those chests down here to go," she said, trying to sound optimistic in the face of Trixie's worrying. Restless or not, Applejack still didn't want Trixie risking much so long as she still had that bump on her head. "I don't know how far I'd make it, anyway." she admitted, as much as she hated doing so. For a pony who prided herself on her strength and stamina and the rewards of hard physical labour, being laid up by an injured leg was about the worst thing Applejack could imagine.

"They're comin'. They must be." Applejack said, trying to be reassuring, though the strain of not knowing for certain was weighing on her mind, too. "I just hope they get here before our families find out." She spent a long silent moment, as though contemplating every horrible thing that could go wrong, before taking a breath and trying to lighten the mood by changing the subject. "So, what's the most unusal place you've ever done a show?" she asked.