Dulset Tarn

Isn't that equivalent to calling our planet Homo? And I thought Hippo was latin for horse. Maybe I'm confusing with greek...

I agree with the critics here that the silly story, clunky dialogue, and grating overabundance of memes and catchphrases made the story quite hard to tolerate. HOWEVER! I would say that I enjoyed it overall, for exactly one reason. The ending went somewhere great that I never expected the comics to go, and that I never do expect the show to ever go. Rainbow Dash realizes that she's been holding herself back, and not for some petty reason like simple fear. You can always push yourself harder, but the truth of the matter is that it eventually reaches a point where you're hurting yourself and the results could be catastrophic. Dash knows that she can try harder, but she also knows it's likely to cost her everything. And what she doesn't know is if it will even work. But that doesn't matter, because Ponyville is more important than anything to the Element of Loyalty, and the mere possibility of saving it is worth more than her ability to fly. She's entirely willing to give everything for Ponyville because she feels Ponyville deserves everything from her, and she wouldn't be Rainbow Dash if she didn't give everything to protect the town. I normally hate the characterization in the comics, just about all of them, but this is the only one that I find just as believable as the show.

Twilight used alicorn magic as a unicorn in The Crystal Empire.

No offense, but that's kind of a nonsense question. As with how she got the wings in the first place, how good it is would depend entirely on the execution. There are great and terrible ways for any number of things to happen. But personally, I don't think any improvement could be made by her losing her wings that couldn't be made without her losing them. The wings are just a symptom, not the disease.

Fair enough, show me how they are.

So I see a lot of people here saying they liked the key plotline. If you don't mind, could you explain what you enjoyed about it? I thought it was a good idea to start, but you immediately understand how it'll go pretty much from the beginning so nothing new is added and there aren't any curveballs to keep people invested. I thought the box/castle was a pretty neat metaphor, it essentially serves as Twilight's "princess" cutie mark. Of course Rainbow Power was awful and the castle is hideous, but there are a few good ideas buried in there.

I like them a lot, I don't know why they got a lot of hate in season 1. Comedy award my butt, if three grade-schoolers made and put on a performance like that, they would have won everything forever. Likewise there's no way they could have lost the Battle of the Bands!

I know, right? Why should things like observable facts and reason get in the way of being an demanding everyone think exactly as you do?

Surprised no one's said this Diamond Tiara: Shiny Dialga Silver Spoon: Shiny Lugia

First off, that's not how you @respond to someone. Second, you're basically admitting that everything I said was right. I don't mind at all if people like things I don't, or things they admit are stupid, but it's important to know what's stupid and what isn't. As for Pinkie Pride, I said earlier that it was one of my favorites of the season. But it was all but ruined by Pinkie's characterization being the worst it's ever been. Even in Filli Vanilli she wasn't THAT bad of a person.

Just look at her name! Don't you see?? Moondancer's "little get together" was a cult meeting for summoning Nightmare Moon back to this realm! They wanted Twilight to go so that they could sacrifice her and her powerful magics to bring back their dark lord! Just look at that cutie mark. "The stars will aid in her escape"!

In Friendship is Magic part 2, and May the Best Pet Win, Fluttershy is shown to be incapable of holding a pony in the air. Whose are some pretty weak wings.

@ Definitely right about Fluttershy's dubious "expertise" with animals. Heck her own key episode this season showed how her "care" has very little room for placing limitations on those she cares for, and she'd rather just give them whatever they want. And this is exactly what she proposed with the farm. What I just don't understand is why one would even expect the "sanctuary" to result in less of the farm's apples eaten than just letting them freely run amok. There's nothing about the "sanctuary" idea that actually involves the bats eating less apples, so where is the benefit for the farm?

And Dash was clearly not trying very hard.

She's a talented amateur, but a professional? No way.

Dash was being lassoed multiple times while she tried to get away, pretty sure that puts a big hamper on her speed as well. Not 100% relevant, but I'm convinced Fluttershy can fly fast with low wingpower just because she's really light.

@@Arctofire You know, it really helps if you use the site's functions when you respond to a person, it gives me a little notification that you responded to me rather than me having to stumble on it and infer that you are in fact talking to me. Let's go over this then. First Discord. In both Princess Twilight Sparkle and Three's a Crowd, was clearly just there to be there. He doesn't add anything to the story or the drama or whatever, he's basically jeering from the sidelines. He was even the main focus of Three's a Crowd and yet he did next to nothing more than say "Look at me, I'm in this episode! I'm messing with them LOL!" That's not terrible or anything, it's just a waste. But then comes Twilight's Kingdom, which ruins him for several reasons. One, he's a moron. Everything we've seen of Discord shows that he's smart, one of the smartest characters in the show. He doesn't have the fanbase he does because he's funny or badass, it's because he's very intelligently written. He's kind of a genius, I could write pages about how the depth of his actions in Return of Harmony isn't even noticed by most of the viewers. Which is why his actions in Twilight's Kingdom, the actions which drive the entire story, are crap. Discord's conversation with Tirek in the alleyway is not written by a smart person. It's essentially a placeholder conversation that gives you the gist of what happened without actually being a convincing scene. It would have been no worse to just say <Tirek tempts Discord with freedom and companionship, offering him Equestria as well> <Discord accepts> because the details don't actually hold up and the scene is forced as hell. Next up they're in the throne room and Tirek offers Discord his medallion, as if that means something. And Discord actually says that he didn't totally trust Tirek before but, because of the necklace, now he does. What the crap is this writing? Who is this character standing in for one of the smartest villains of cartoon history? At this point most viewers I assume figured that Discord was playing a long con, trying to keep Tirek's trust long enough to do something unexpected. I mean, he knows better than anyone how to be a conniving, untrustworthy backstabber. Even Tirek has a hard time believing Discord didn't see the betrayal coming. But after that comes the worst part. Thanks to Twilight saving Discord from... a bubble, as if that accomplishes something or demonstrates their bond or matters at all, Discord is taught the true meaning of friendship. This is a gigantic insult to Fluttershy, who by herself and in a believable manner actually did teach Discord how friendship works, at least to a small degree. But even that small degree is leagues beyond whatever Twilight supposedly taught him. It's pretty much undeniable fact that what Fluttershy did in reforming Discord was the most impressive, incredible feat pulled off by anyone in the history of Equestria, and she did it ALONE. But McCarthy could never stand for that! Only Main Character Super Special Alicorn Princess of Friendship Twilight Sparkle could show Discord the TRUE meaning of friendship! Anything less would just have him turn evil again at the slightest poorly written temptation. Sorry Fluttershy, your incredible feat meant nothing after all. As for Pinkie Pie, well yeah she hasn't had a decent episode since MMMMystery, and she waaaaasn't exactly in top form there. She's long dead, never coming back, replaced with an unfeeling, uncompassionate gag machine who really isn't a good enough person to deserve friends. Unfortunately my only argument for them not trying is... Just look at it! The stories fall apart with the slightest scrutiny, continuity is all but gone, clever writing is replaced with lasers and fighting, what used to be strong, deep characters get rewritten every episode for the shallow, nonsensical stories, the only morals left are terrible and made up, not even following the events of the episode, all the clever little things from the songs and dresses and mannerisms have taken a nosedive, the core messages the series has always stuck to are ignored, episodes have become actually cliché from start to finish rather than an original take on clichéd material as before, every character gets at least one episode to absolutely ruin who they are and what they stand for, the writers don't even know who Spike is. You may see this as full of holes, but I don't know what more I could possibly point to to show a systematic lack of effort from these writers who have taken something Lauren Faust worked hard with her team to create, and turned it into their fanfiction general. But hey, that's just my "opinion"

The writers really had fin with this one, as each of the criticizing ponies represents the kind of executive mandates that plague any creator Twilight demands that Rarity make something perfectly accurate, even when it gets in the way of the quality. Applejack doesn't care about the quality either, only worrying about how marketable hers is. Rainbow Dash has an "I'll know it when I see it" mentality, with no knowledge of what she's looking at or asking for. Pinkie wants to be involved and give ideas, but doesn't know the good from the bad, just forcing everything she can think of into it. And Fluttershy wants hers to look like something else she likes, but doesn't understand what it is about that which makes it good. All artists of every sort have to deal with people like this, and undoubtedly Lauren and the other writers faced this a lot while working on the show.

I think Season 4 is by far the worst of the series. About half of the episodes wound up 5/10 or less, while topping out at 7.5 with only a few episodes. Woth the series' new focus on using violence and lasers to solve problems, the storytelling, morals, songs, and conflicts all took a major hit, even after the disappointing Season 3. The characters, and I mean ALL the characters, get at least one episode to drag them through the mud and make us question if we ever really liked them to begin with. All the mane six, Spike, the princesses, Discord, even Flim and Flam aren't spared this season's horrendous treatment of canon. The premiere was downright pointless and the finale was... well you saw it. With episodes like Bats!, Filli Vanilli, and even one of my favorites of the season Pinkie Pride, it's never been more evident that the writers have essentially stopped trying. They have their devoted followers, and they're never leaving, so it's fine to feed them whatever some amateur can write up on the first draft. Who's going to question the writers for THIS show?

Well among other things, how about the fact that Fluttershy getting literally infused with batness turns her into a mindless feral beast with no empathy or compassion thus proving AJ right about them?

But again, we don't know those are true. And given what the episode shows, they're not true. So we have evidence that she's speaking out her flank.

As much as I loved her in A Canterlot Wedding, actually examining her actions reveals she has no idea what she's doing! The most generous interpretation that actually makes any sense requires three major assumptions. 1. Chrysalis did no research into who she would be impersonating, because she doesn't know a thing about who Cadence is! 2. Chrysalis really really wanted to marry Shining Armor, maybe she likes him? 3. Chrysalis REALLY hates Canterlot, and wants it destroyed despite having many reasons not to. But still, she's so freakin badass!

Do you have any evidence that she started off knowing a thing or two about them? Because the entire episode suggests otherwise.

Actually hold on, why not? It's not like Tirek could fly in that scene, so would there even have been a big difference is Twilight couldn't either? And that's assuming she couldn't just use magic to fly given the circumstances. And don't say "Oh it had to be alicorn magic", that was written as an ad hoc excuse that could just as easily have been given to Twilight without her new ascended race.

Destiny itself already calls free will into question. When you have a person manipulating others' destinies to get a result they want, free will is all but gone.