KatonRyu

Well, early on AJ says that the Everfree Forest 'is not natural' because plants grow and seasons change on their own. That would imply that in the rest of Equestria, maintenance is needed to ensure the seasons pass. The sun and moon need to be raised, which would imply a static, unchanging planet, and we know that weather changes like rain are scheduled in advance (Look Before You Sleep). Picking up snow is then a logical action that comes with the changing of the seasons.

I know he betrays them in the same way, that's why said that him trusting Tirek was not a conscious decision. By all means, he should not have made that mistake, yet he did. It's even pointed out to him that he should have seen it coming. He grew a conscience without realizing it, and it cost him his powers, and finally opened his eyes to what he himself had done and been up to that point. It could just have been lazy writing, obviously, but MLP is basically where the last remnant of my idealism resides so I can't help but defend some things that might be bad. Like I said, though, I do understand why you might not like it.

For me it showed a change in character because indeed, he would never have made that mistake before. But because Fluttershy touched him, 'corrupted' him, maybe even, he made the mistake of trusting Tirek, and for that he was betrayed. It's not something his old self would have done, and probably not even something he was consciously aware of either. The moment he realizes all those things was one I found quite strong, although I can see why you might not like it.

I would love to see more about Star Swirl the Bearded. After all, he seems as important to the history of Equestria as Celestia and Luna. I wonder what kind of magic he wielded, or what his cutie mark looks like. I can't recall having seen it in the comics, either.

They have outhouses and at least once they showed a proper toilet. Since they have a society I'm pretty sure they don't just go wherever they want to, especially in a big city like Manehattan.

Shipping is an important aspect for any fandom for me. I think well written ships seem natural and don't require either party to act OOC. It's true that you shouldn't meddle in real life relationships but for fictional characters and a fictional world I don't think those rules go. I support several ships on the show and I like thinking about them and writing fanfics for them, and watching well made art of the ponies I ship. How the ponies I ship would react if they found out I ship them, let me think for a moment. For their reactions I'll hold to the premise that no romantic feelings exist between any of the ponies involved. AppleDash: AJ: "Sorry sugar, I like Rainbow a lot, but not in that way." RD: "Yeah, and besides I couldn't see myself being all gooey with somepony like AJ. It'd be so weird." TwiDash: Twilight: "I like her a lot, but...we're friends. I'm not attracted to her in that way." RD: "Twilight's a great pony, but she's still an egghead and I'm not...Not like her, anyway. I don't think it would work well." Twixie: Twilight: "Really? Just because she has some talent with magic too? I forgave her for the things she did and I could get along with her, but I don't love her." Trixie: "The Great and Powerful Trixie laughs at your silly romantic pairing!" *Cue long-winded speech about Trixie's greatness* SunLight: Twilight: *sigh* "Why do you like shipping me so much? Yes, Sunset and I studied under Princess Celestia and we have some things in common, but she's still just my friend. She means a lot to me, but like I said before, NOT IN THAT WAY." Sunset: "I write friendship reports to Twilight, but that's because I like her as a friend and mentor where friendship is concerned. She's not my love interest. Haven't you noticed the attraction between her and Flash? I mean, if you really want to ship people..." Me: "Yeah, let's leave him out of this..." Ugh. It's hard coming up with reactions to my preferred ships and remain in character. It didn't really work out the way I planned, either. Oh well. I guess these reactions would approximate their reactions a bit, though.

Off the top of my head: - The way Twilight gets ditched in ACW. I can't stand seeing Twilight hurt to begin with but everyone was just way out of line here. Her friends because Twilight knows Cadance much better than they do, and Celestia because she has known Cadance for years and she of all ponies should have noticed the change. Twilight noticed immediately, Celestia has no excuse even without the special greeting. For one thing, Cadance's magic isn't green. It's blue. This is a dead giveaway. - I didn't like attitudes of everyone except Fluttershy in the 'Bats' song. They were just too cold and callous, and not at all willing to listen to Fluttershy. -If EQG counts, Flash Sentry's personality, or lack thereof. If you're going to give Twilight a love interest, at least make him interesting. Or pair her with Sunset because go SunLight!

Let's see, my first thought was of the wedding between Cadance and Shining Armor. I think roughly three hundred deaths would take place at that moment. Everypony would be...mounting...each other at the slightest provocation and banishment would be a thing of the past. Luna would have been executed immediately, Discord would have raped and murdered Celestia and crowned himself king, and the Mane 6 (those still alive by then) would be horribly gored by the legions of chaos.

Definitely the battle with Tirek, and even before that when Twilight was given all the magic of the princesses. That moment ties in nicely with my headcanon too, which made it more of a wtf moment since that very rarely happens.

Honestly, I wouldn't like it if they did. I'm sure people could mimic the original voices (I've seen fan works that come damn close to the real thing) but it would still be different. But then, I don't like change all that much; that probably factors in as well.

I don't think a death episode would be a bad thing. I know enough about death to be able to say that friendship is a very strong part of coping with it. When my mom died four years ago the first thing I did was call a friend. We just walked around the lake making morbid jokes because that makes it easier to deal with. My point is that a show about friendship is almost obligated to have an episode where death is touched upon, because at times like that you need your friends most of all. I needed them then, anyway, and I think many others would as well. I agree however, that it has to be touched upon sensitively. I'm also not in favor of killing off a main character because that would break me. (As in I'd be in tears for the rest of the episode, not suffer deep psychological trauma)

I think it would have to be Magical Mystery Cure or Twilight's Kingdom (both parts). MMC because the songs are just spot on and the images capture the emotions perfectly, not to mention Twilight's finished spell giving me goose bumps every time I hear it. Kingdom because of the betrayal and the epic battle between Tirek and Twilight. I also love how broken Discord gets when he is betrayed. I don't think he'd ever felt like that if Fluttershy hadn't shown him friendship.

While I liked the overall episode, I didn't like the way the Mane 5 (without Fluttershy, obviously) were so quick to side with AJ on getting rid of the vampire bats. Even though the bats were harmful there was a quite a lot of loathing from the other ponies, who weren't personally affected by the bats at all. It just seemed like no one was prepared to listen to Fluttershy at all. I do believe that could have been handled a bit better.

I don't think that's entirely true. If Fluttershy hadn't planted the seeds of kindness within Discord he would never have given Twilight her key. Discord's fall, the way he was betrayed, that would not have happened if he had still been purely evil. Fluttershy taught him the meaning of friendship and Twilight reiterated it. I don't think that makes Fluttershy suddenly worthless. For me one of the strongest moments in the episode is when Discord betrays the ponies, then subsequently gets betrayed by Tirek. His echo of Fluttershy's words when he realizes he's been betrayed were so full of genuine hurt it's obvious he actually trusted Tirek up to that point. "Don't tell me you didn't see this coming." "I didn't...I really didn't..." I don't think Discord would have trusted anyone before Fluttershy taught him the meaning of friendship.

I liked seeing Babs again and despite the generic square dancing tune I really enjoyed the song Raise This Barn. And of course, I liked how AJ takes her good intentions too far. Not the first time she did that either.

I loved the way this episode was set up. I think the music captured the moments perfectly, especially Find A Way, which remains one of my favorite MLP songs to this day. The forlorn mane six as their wrong cutie marks ruin their lives just hurt to see, and the joy when they return to normal is amazing. The crowning moment for me is the moment this: "From one to another, another to one, the mark of one's destiny singled out alone, fulfilled" becomes "From all of us together, together we are friends, with the marks of our destinies made one, there is magic without end" That second line just gives me chills every time I hear it, and even just now when I wrote it down.

I have an astonishing number of plushies, but none of them are ponies as of yet. I used to sleep with them but my new group became too big so I moved them all to the top of my wardrobe, where they now reside with the rest of my plushies...the ones that aren't still at my dad's place, that is. The most recent one I slept with would be a small black cat plushie called Angus MacFluffy. I took him to Berlin with me when I had a tournament there. I chose him out of all my plushies because I bought him when my real black cat Lexi died from a brain aneurysm and this way it felt like I had her with me.

I'm expecting that by the end of the show, the Mane 6 will have matured and left Ponyville to pursue their own ambitions. Rarity would be a well-known fashionista in Manehattan or Canterlot, Rainbow Dash would be captain of the Wonderbolts after learning to control her ego, Pinkie would be the authority on everything to do with partying, Fluttershy would be Fluttershy, taking care of animals wherever they need her, AJ would still be in Ponyville working on the farm because it's a family business and she'd never let them down, the CMC will have found and embraced their natural talents to earn their cutie marks... ...and Twilight...Twilight would have succeeded Celestia and maybe even Luna, becoming the living embodiment of magic and friendship to all in Equestria. Then for the last time, the credits roll, but aside from being a melancholy yet hopeful song it will show images from the start of the journey all the way to the end. It's just a shame I won't see any of it because my tears will blur my vision too much, like Miles said in the post just before mine.