Prince Firemane

The concept of brony toxicity is something that, I think, has been wildly blown out of proportion. As has been said, every fandom has it's toxic elements. From arrogance and zealous pseudo-intellectualism in the Rick and Morty fandom to hyper-defensive psychosis in the Steven Universe fandom. From the hyper-fixation on relationships based on arbitrary interaction in the Star Vs. fandom to the desperation to have LGBT representation specifically so they can find something wrong with it in the Voltron fandom. Toxicity exist no matter where you go. As far as bronies are concerned, I never saw that much toxicity, especially in comparison to what we saw in the latter half of the 2010s. I've been exposed to the show and the fandom since 2012 and I saw a lot of trends come and go. Perhaps the most toxic element I saw was bronies being hyper-sensitive about our liking a show that had the target demographic of young girls. It did cause a lot of us to lash out at those who didn't deserve it. But the lashing out wasn't without cause. We bore the brunt of a lot of criticism for our interest. It caused a lot of us to develop insecurity about it. For those of us who grew up as boys, it hit home at an uncomfortable sore spot. Society has never liked us taking an interest in anything that was outside the realm of 'for boys' and we've been hit with scorn for it our entire lives. Those of you who grew up as boys liking the Powerpuff Girls know exactly what I'm talking about. Suddenly we were back in that space only now it was worse because we are adults so that means our fondness for MLP must mean we're pedophiles. Hateful critics were desperate to paint us all with that brush and even went so far as to erase the women who like the show because they don't fit the stereotype. Some hateful critics are still at it to cover up their own insecurities at best and to cover their tracks and hide skeletons in their closet at worst ((hello, Lily Orchard)). And speaking of Lily, she is the most singular toxic element in the fandom. She actively lies, slanders and generally showcases her ineptitude and laziness with every video she makes and every post she makes on tumblr. She represents the absolute worst of toxic fandom stereotypes and willfully ignores the fact she is explicitly guilty of just about everything she attacks others for. I wouldn't bring Lily up except for the fact that her growing popularity has led to more and more people citing her behavior as representative of how all adults who enjoy children's media are. Ever since she spent two hours calling Rebecca Sugar a fascist, Lily is cited as a prime example of the 'petulant, spoiled man-babies' stereotype that is applied to us all, a stereotype which Lily applies to each and every one of us in turn. To sum up the overblown text wall that is this post, toxicity is a thing in every fandom. It's a basic fact of fandom interaction. Thankfully, it's usually the minority of fans and most people are good-willed and are often very creative. As far as bronies specifically are concerned, the toxicity in our fandom rarely goes above background levels other than one infected, very painful thorn in our side that most of us wish would just go away.

To be honest, I really didn't like this season at all. The entire overarching storyline of the season, preparing Twilight to rule Equestria solo after Celestia and Luna retire, is one that I really don't like because it came completely out of nowhere. Celestia seemed to just want to retire on a whim because she's bored and doesn't seem to take into account the sheer enormity of the ramifications on Equestria and the world at large that abdicating the throne will have after a solid millennium of ruling. The idea of exchanging power in Equestria is so completely foreign to the populace and Rarity acknowledges that fact. It would be one thing if Celestia and Luna were giving up just the throne, but they're giving up the sun and moon as well; literally turning their backs on their cutie marks in the name of retirement. There are so many unanswered questions about the entire storyline and the entire thing is brought about by Celestia giving in to an alarmingly shortsighted whim. Are Celestia and Luna reaching the end of their lives? Will their functional immortality continue even through retirement? If so, will they demand the throne back once they get bored again? Did Luna give up dreamwalking as well? I could go on. Like I said, I really didn't like this season because of its principle storyline. I was pretty much apathetic to the rest of the season and as such, it was hard to choose my most liked/disliked, but I think I did it. The Beginning of the End was an amazing opener and is perhaps my favorite of the entire series. The stakes were higher and more grand and it was one of the few times I was on the edge of my seat in this series. I loved seeing favorite villains return and I really liked the showcase of just how effective a force Sombra really is when at his prime, something only alluded to in The Crystal Empire. Naturally, The Ending of the End bookends the opener in an amazing way as well. Though I have to take points away for the reveal of Discord being Grogar the entire time as Grogar was someone built up to and should've been explored more. But like with The Beginning of the End, I was left on the edge of my seat the entire time and was genuinely worried for the Mane Six's wellbeing and very survival more than once. However, I didn't enjoy the other episodes as much and those like Sparkle's Seven, Frenemies and Between Dark and Dawn are episodes I only really mention my enjoyment of because of jokes or bits of character moments in these episodes. Shining Armor and Twilight play off each other really well and so do Celestia and Luna. But I was delightfully surprised just how much I enjoyed the dynamic between Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow. Which is especially surprising to me personally because I detest Cozy Glow, but I found her rather enjoyable amongst her fellow villains. Episodes like Dragon Dropped and The Point of no Return are ones I disliked because of Rarity and Twilight having to learn some pretty basic lessons. Rarity should know better than to think Spike wants nothing to do with her after making a new friend. Twilight shouldn't be allowing her neurotic fears get the best of her. Again. Especially when she's on the cusp of ruling an entire nation. Uprooted deserves special mention to me because while the episode is alright in a vacuum, it furthered a multi-season plot involving the Student Six that was completely dropped after this episode. It was plainly obvious from the beginning of season 8 onwards that the Student Six were intended to be the third iteration of harmony. The Pillars fostered friendship amongst the pony races, the Mane Six spread that friendship all over Equestria and the Student Six were plainly intended to evolve that friendship to include the species from all over the world. The even went so far as to forge a personal connection with the spirit of the Tree of Harmony and even resurrected it in an image befitting them. Clearly they were meant for more. But nothing more came of it. That's it. A Horse Shoe-In is an episode I thoroughly detest because it's yet another episode that once again showcases that Trixie and Starlight both are the absolute fucking worst and are equal parts in the most hideously abusive relationship this series ever offered and once again, we're just supposed to be okay with that. Sunrise, sunset. My least favorite episode of not only season 9, but the series as a whole has to be The Last Problem. There is nothing redeemable in this episode to me I didn't enjoy a single moment of it. The fact is, it's the only episode of the entire series that I genuinely hate. I've never before seen an episode of the series so completely spit on the show's entire theme: friendship, apparently, is not magic after all. Twilight rules without the rest of the Mane Six and they've drifted apart and moved on. The soul-shattering fact of the matter is that their friendship is over and we all know it. Despite all the lip-service to the idea of maintaining friendships, we all know that when you have close friendships for years that literally change your life for the better, getting together at most ((depending on the deliberately ambiguous length of 'a moon')) once a month just simply isn't enough. Anyone who had a best friend in high school that they saw less and less of after graduation knows this. And if that weren't enough, this episode confirms the worst fear that the fandom has had for the last six years: Twilight will indeed outlive her friends. Point. Blank. Period. It's just such an awful note to leave the series on, I really don't understand how anyone can enjoy it let alone call it their favorite episode. I won't begrudge anyone who does of course, but still. All in all, I really didn't enjoy this season as a whole. There were five that I enjoyed that were worth mentioning but I have to be honest, I struggled to find them. The series didn't go out with the bang I wanted, but instead whimpered to the finish line and I lament that this was the way such an amazing, influential series came to its end.

Meh, it is what it is. I won't hold it against anyone if they enjoy Lily's content.

Indeed, there are a lot of people who don't want to speak on issues that don't involve them and that has been a problem. Lily castigates the entire community for not speaking out on Toon sooner and that it shouldn't have reached that point. My question is: where was Lily before her video? The idea that "this should have been talked about sooner" is a non-argument because while it sounds good in hindsight when the sins have been committed and the dots connected, in reality it's harder to see things go down in real time. It happens, some people are less perceptive than others. My problem with Lily here is that she acts as if not speaking for any reason is tantamount to being Toon's enabler, and she has the gall to make such a video and demand that she not be held to the standards she holds to everyone else. She asks why people weren't talking like this about Toon sooner, I ask why wasn't she? Making a few comments here and there isn't enough, not when you want people to make scathing videos. It goes both ways and Lily refuses to acknowledge that. The fact is, Lily wants to get outraged about the very thing she's guilty of: ignoring the Toon problem until it escalated to the point of pedophilia. Yes, Lily kinda has a point but it's not a new point made. The fact is, Lily is parroting back points already made by a bunch of other people but wants people to think she's the only one making them. Despite what Lily would have you believe, most people already thought Toon was a scumbag before the leaks, just not that it went this deep.

Lily Orchard is the most vile, disgusting, hateful, fascist person within the fandom and our community would be much better off without her. She is bitter, angry and only wants to start drama in order to sate her own undeserved sense of moral outrage. Such outrage including people who disagree with her, people who enjoy serialized storytelling and anyone less liberal-minded than her. Her first answer is violence when solving problems and will try to destroy you if you don't agree with her. Just ask Josh Scorcher, her ex-fiance and even her own mother on that one. This isn't the first time Lily has accused the brony community of harboring pedophiles and it surely won't be the last. She doesn't actually care about the wellbeing of anyone in the fandom, surprise to absolutely no one. She wants to avoid people bringing up Stockholm, her own foalcon story because she loathes it when people bring up her past actions as criticism, despite using the past as a point of attack herself. The last time she made one of these videos against the brony community, she used Derpibooru and FiMFiction as points of reference to hives of depravity. She focused on Dedpibooru specifically, deliberately ignoring FiMFiction because to address it in detail would be to draw attention to the fact that she has actively contributed to the problem she claims to loathe. She tries so hard to deny Stockholm's existence even though there's an audio clip from one of her videos outright admitting that she wrote it. I could go on but to make a long story short, Lily Orchard is the last person with any kind of leg to stand on on this topic. She might have one or two good points here and there, but they're completely overshadowed by her violent hatred, toxicity, hypocracy and her actions as an all-around loathsome human being.

It's been a long time since I enjoyed an episode this much. Perhaps my favorite thematic execution was the juxtaposition of 'slice of life' and 'adventure' in this one episode. Chrysalis's presence and the clones obviously give callbacks to previous adventures such as The Return of Harmony and A Canterlot Wedding. However, the idea of an innocent retreat gives the feeling of an average slice of life episode, complete with its own friendship lesson. Heh, I almost expected Twilight to end the episode with the declaration of "Dear Princess Celestia". I also really liked how nothing was actually resolved, especially after that nightmare fuel of an ending. The friendship lesson itself leaves a weird taste in your mouth because there are elements of the episode that we, the audience, are aware of that the Mane Six are not. As others have mentioned, Pinkie outright stating that she never said that Twilight's retreats are boring and Rarity rebuking Applejack's accusation of theft are never elaborated upon even though we saw both of those events transpire. It was, admittedly, frustrating at times to see the Mane Six so oblivious, but we're biased as the audience because we have perceptions and knowledge that they don't. To them, the idea that there are evil clones of everyone messing everyone's day up was probably the last possible explanation for the day's events that could've entered their minds. At the tail end of the episode, the Mane Six discover their campsite destroyed, but laugh it off and start to rebuild. Twilight confidently declares "If we can survive a day like this, I think our friendship is strong enough to handle anything the world can throw at us." Damn it, Twilight, why you do dat? The episode ends on a positive note. Laughter, a light and fun musical flourish, the pan upwards to a beautiful night sky; everything we've seen before. But again, it leaves a weird taste in your mouth because we saw some major shit go down, and it was never resolved. It almost leaves a sense of foreboding for the future, poignantly punctuated by Chrysalis flying off into the distance. As for the Mean Six, well, they were a lot of fun to say the least. It was very easy to tell that each voice actress in the episode had a tremendous amount of fun recording and that made us have a lot of fun as we were watching. They're often compared to the Mane Six when 'discorded' in The Return of Harmony, a clearly obvious callback, but they were different, if only subtly. Discorded Dash was disloyal to the point of running away. Mean Dash was lazy, which caused her to not be interested in lifting a hoof to help her friend. Discorded Fluttershy poked at her friends and wanted to make their lives that much more difficult. Mean Fluttershy, true to her name, wanted to watch the world burn and do what she could to fan the flames. Discorded Applejack was a notoriously bad liar, seeming almost compelled against her will to lie, complete with her own facial tic that further gave her away. Mean Applejack was confident and more subtle with her lying, almost as if she knew what she was doing and did it just because she enjoyed it. Discorded Rarity selfishly held close a single object that she was made to believe was the most beautiful, valuable thing in the universe. Mean Rarity horded literally everything she got her hooves and magic on, even something as mundane as a stick used to hold up a tent was not beyond her clutches. Discorded Pinkie was angry at the world for perceiving everyone to be laughing at her and not with her. Mean Pinkie was completely apathetic and bored with everything and everyone around her. Discorded Twilight, for the brief time she was shone, was in total despair and had completely turned away from the magic of friendship. Mean Twilight was conniving, manipulative, cocky; she would betray anyone, probably including her own fellow clones, for the sake of power. The discorded Mane Six existed as the inverse of their individual elemental attribute while the Mean Six existed as the inverse of individual that they each were made in the image of. The color schemes of the Mean Six were a tad different than their discorded counterparts as well. They're desaturated, but not in the same way. Some colors are shifted just a tad and lightened up while others, such as Mean Twilight's eyes, were nearly completely different than normal. I think it's just a further visual element that they ain't quite right. This is also subtly punctuated by the appearances of their cutie marks. Mean Dash's cutie mark was upside down, showing that instead of active and energetic, this Dash is slow and lazy. Mean Fluttershy's cutie mark colors are inverted, showing that she's now the total opposite of who she's modeled after. Mean Applejack's cutie mark has the apples shift from red to green, showing that she's become a 'sour apple'. Mean Rarity's cutie mark is darker and more dull, showing that this is the tarnished version of the beautiful gem we all know and love. Mean Pinkie's cutie mark has the center balloon placed below the other two instead of above, showing how deflated she's become. Mean Twilight's cutie mark has the center star become entirely magenta instead of magenta with smaller, white, secondary spikes; a... well, dark foreshadowing of what would happen to the center star on the Tree of Harmony. Speaking of the Tree of Harmony... holy shit. That was intense. And the thing I think is the most insanely fucked up, aside from the scene playing out entirely in all its twisted detail, is the fact that this is the first time we've ever seen the Tree, and by extension the Elements, take a life. In fact, I always thought it was out of the Elements' power to destroy as the closest they've ever come is neutralizing Discord by turning him to stone. I have to wonder, did the Elements react so violently against what could be seen as twisted perversions of their own bearers, or were they corrupted? I tend to think that the Elements were corrupted, they didn't lash out against the Mean Six until after they were all hit by that flash of darkness. Then when they did lash out, their magic connected to the Element of Magic in the same way they did when the Chest of Harmony or when the chest was opened. But instead of soft and wavy, the lines were sharp and jagged. Instead of filled with colorful rainbows, the lines were filled with nothing but black. We can't help but wonder just what the hell we watched go down. I get it, the Mean Six were simply copies of the Mane Six and the Tree neutralized the threat to harmony by getting rid of the perverted, abdominal insults to their bearers. Nevertheless, the Mean Six were still living, sentient creatures. They were alive, and the Tree killed them. This was something that the Elements had never done before, not even to Discord himself. Regardless for the reason, a line was crossed here and I think it means something. All in all, I found this episode really fun and it gave so much to think about. I really look forward to seeing what the rest of season eight has to offer.

Naw, she's not twerking. This isn't the Powerpuff Girls reboot.

Well, Celestia and Luna themselves could've been inspired from Skinfaxi and Hrímfaxi of Nordic mythology. Skinfaxi drew Dagr's ((day's)) chariot and his mane lit up the world below while Hrímfaxi pulled Nótt's ((night's)) chariot and his mane dropped dew upon the world.

Eh, it's an interesting idea but I don't think so, the similarities are completely superficial. Many works of fiction have shown light oriented characters as fun and playful while dark oriented characters as aloof and serious. We can't really draw any conclusions as far as Starswirl is concerned because he hasn't been in the series proper. EU materials like the comics and books have a dubious canon status so we have to take their content with a grain of salt. But like I said, it's an interesting idea. We need to get some pony Clow Cards up in here.

Starlight to me seems to be lacking a certain amount of empathy for those around her. Not to say that she's completely without empathy, but she shows repeated lack of interest of most ponies around her. She has to be told not to repeat actions that are reminiscent of her former self and seems to have a lack of self-awareness of that fact. And time and time again, she's shown that she is just not interested in making any friends, even after doing so with Trixie. Even then, the two of them had to bond over their dark pasts and actions which allowed Starlight to empathize with her on a deeper level. But for average ponies around her in her day-to-day life, she's just not interested. It sometimes honestly feels like she's just using Twilight to expand her already needlessly overblown knowledge and power over magic. And that's the problem. Starlight has shown such incredible amounts of magical skill and knowledge already which keeps exponentially growing for no reason. She quite easily surpasses Twilight in sheer power, this is quite evident because we keep having to be told that the two of them are on some kind of equal footing yet we're consistently shown the contrary. I mean, the fact that they would even be close to equal footing in spite of Twilight's Alicorn magic ((Which we have been shown to be incredibly powerful in it's own right; the four parts of Alicorn magic at the time were combined and shown to be equal in raw power to all of the rest of pony magic in Equestria combined.)) and Starlight's lack thereof is nothing short of complete and total bullshit. Again, that's the problem. Starlight never has to work for anything, she never has to struggle or face the fear that she might not be able to reach her goal. She just simply does it, or it gets simply handed to her by way of her ability to somehow find ancient powerful spells and edit them to her own uses. She keeps having to learn the cardinal lesson that magic isn't the answer to everything yet she repeatedly ignores that because she isn't bound by those conventions. At this point, magic really is the answer to everything for her because she can do everything with magic. Her skills, somehow acquired knowledge and potential are never hindered, are never given limitations; there's no ceiling. They just keep getting higher and bigger with no end in sight. As far as Twilight goes, people are criticizing her for stalking Starlight and trying to keep a friendship from forming because she didn't trust Trixie. Honestly... I don't really see anything wrong with that. Twilight had pretty good fucking reasons not to trust Trixie. When it comes to villain redemption, they have to earn it. Discord did, as did Sunset Shimmer; a lesson that Starlight of course had to avoid. Trixie had done nothing to earn that redemption and subsequent trust of others. She said she wanted it, but then so did Discord and look how well that turned out the first time around. Yes, Twilight did go behind Starlight's back after she said she'd trust her which is objectively wrong; but I'm personally jaded because I don't think that Starlight is worthy of that trust. I don't think anyone should be completely trusted not to stray back down a dark path after so soon leaving it when someone who closely fits their former self is staring them in the face. If I have a friend who was a former drug addict who truly was working very hard to change themselves, I won't allow them to be around another drug addict who shows no remorse up till that point. Judge it how you will. But even then, Trixie proved herself to Twilight and Twilight immediately backed off which I think is the proper move. Twilight is protective, and yes, perhaps a tad bit distrustful of Starlight's decision-making; but her heart was in the right place and she certainly had ample reason to do what she did.

To be honest, I'm sick of slice of life episodes. It worked in the beginning when we were still learning the quarks and nuances that actually add to the quality of their characters. Rarity getting a new boutique works on a basic level because it's a step in the achievement of her dream. Rainbow becoming a Wonderbolts works the same way for the same reason. However, they're all bogged down by that that they're giant meme generators. It really strikes me that people here have accused a more action-oriented direction as trying too hard to appeal to others than the target demographic, yet there has been no mention of how slice of life episodes now do nothing but try to appeal to us older bronies by constantly referencing memes or reinforcing ideas that the brony community as a whole demands to be true. At least action-oriented episodes actually try to tell some kind of story or try to add to the richness of the world in which they live.

Eh, her having been faking it this whole time wouldn't make sense as she does seem to be genuinely trying to learn what she can about friendship. However, I can see her relapsing as she's already been shown to have poor impulse control. She's also been shown to be frustrated with Twilight's methods of teaching friendship and she's being constantly beat over the head with snide comments about what she's done in the past. I wonder if she's gonna have a snapping moment. I think that people are wondering about her reformation and how genuine it is because it doesn't feel genuine. Remember how we all felt about Sunset Shimmer's about-face at the end of Equestria Girls? Yeah, that. The point is that Starlight Glimmer has never had to earn anything. She didn't earn her friends, she didn't earn her power; everything about her was just handed to her by the writers in an attempt to give us yet another foil to Twilight. At least Twilight has been shown earning her friendships with others, at least she's been shown acquiring new skills with her magic, it all feels real because we're able to see her highs and lows. With Starlight, all we see are her highs. She doesn't feel real because, as I said, everything is handed to her by the writers. People are so invested in seeing her punished for her actions because it would be a shred of realism to a character that is so wholly unrealistic. Everyone who as a former antagonist has had to earn their redemption. Luna, Discord, Sunset Shimmer; even Gilda and Trixie. But of course, Starlight gets to sidestep all that mess. I'm so sick of seeing Starlight in the series because ever since The Cutie Re-Mark, we've had this bitch constantly shoved down our throats all to remind us that she exists and she so goddamn powerful and perfect and awesome because she exists.

...damn dude, you mad? I understand you disagree with me, but you don't have to be so aggressive about it.

I have to say, I really did NOT like this episode. I'll be honest in admitting that I went into it with a personal bias. I've never been one to hide the fact that I really do not like Starlight Glimmer anymore. And Trixie?! Who knew you'd be here, except everyone since Hasbro ruined it in the promos. But really, outside of my personal bias against Starlight and Trixie, I really didn't like this episode because of how out of character everyone was. First of all, I'm still hoping that Starlight's actions in the first half of the episode are signs of a slip back to evil. She still has controlling and domineering traits. She doesn't wait for anyone to ask for her magical help, just jumps to conclusions and does whatever she wants with zero regards, which seems really out of character with how the writers are trying to characterize her. I was outraged as well, Starlight didn't think someone who didn't talk much fit her definition of a friend, so she uses her magic to alter Big Mac?! Fuck that not being what a friend does, that's not even moral! Then there's Twilight, who's distrust of Trixie was rather over the top, especially since she seemed to forgive Trixie at the end of Magic Duel. One of the things that we always liked about Twilight over the years is how humble she is. But now she's taken a large level on jerkass conceit, constantly fawning over how everypony's gonna see that she's a great teacher. Even the minor roles were out of character; Mrs. Cake yelling at Starlight and Celestia making no attempts to hide the fact that she's bored and irritated when she's usually so friendly.

See, I always figured that Sunset Shimmer doesn't have a native counterpart in Canterlot High's world. After all, not everypony has a human counterpart and vice-versa. But then again, I didn't think Twilight had a human counterpart at first either, so I guess I'll shut my mouth now.

I'd like to see something aquatic since we've already covered land and sky.

Well, this was certainly an adventure, one I still have a few mixed feelings about even after multiple viewings. First of all, I stopped being a fan of Starlight Glimmer after The Cutie Re-Mark after they completely stripped away everything I grew to love about her during The Cutie Map. But I suppose my biggest gripe about her is that she seems to be completely forgiven for what she did; she didn't have to earn it like Sunset Shimmer or even Luna did. Sure, she seems to be wracked with guilt and a bit of self-loathing, but they did too. A few lines and a musical montage seems to be a hollow victory when compared to the journeys of catharsis that Sunset Shimmer and Luna went through. However, it is worth noting that Starlight's task to rekindling her friendship with Sunburst wasn't as easy as we all thought it would be. I liked the fact that he was a bit resistant to it due to his introverted tendencies and the bit of shame that he wasn't able to live up to the expectations that he put upon himself. I also liked the fact that he wasn't turned into some kind of all-powerful mage since his introductory flashback showed that he had clear magical limitations. Levitating and organizing a stack of books is indeed impressive for a colt, but by no means is it "grand mage" status. I felt that their growth was handled very well, and shockingly enough; so was Spike's involvement in the matter. He didn't devolve into the usual over-ego bullshit that he's been through in the past. In fact, Starlight even actively tried to tweak his ego but he was resistant and only delved into it a bit to sate the crowd of Crystal Ponies that grew around him. He even called out Starlight's blatant attempt to put off meeting Sunburst, but did it in a caring way. This is the Spike we grew to love and it's great to see him back. I only hope that he stays this way. Now for the baby. Ah, yes... the baby. Well, I gotta say, Flurry Heart's presence wasn't nearly as bad as I feared. Like a lot of people, I was afraid that this was gonna be some God-forsaken "Fairly Odd Baby" rehash, but I'm glad that it went in a different direction. Yes, Flurry Heart is incredibly powerful and out of control, but they actually took steps to tone that down for the future by having Sunburst bind her powers so there would be clear limitations. I was irked when she shattered the Crystal Heart, but at least it was able to be fixed in the end. Like everyone else, I was a bit tweaked about Celestia's controversial line that threw all of our Alicorn headcanons into disarray. However, it doesn't really bother me anymore because there's a solution that comfortably ties everything together. Of course Flurry Heart would be the first Alicorn newborn that Equestria has seen because Cadance is the first one of them to actually breed. Think about it, if Celestia and Luna had foals running around out there, I would think that we, or at least Twilight would've heard of them before. Even though their numbers are steadily increasing, new Alicorns are still something that one does not see every day. Even though the knowledge of Celestia's sister fell out of public consciousness during her banishment, one would think that her daughter ((or son, as unlikely the case may be)) would be recognized. While it still leaves a few loose threads about Celestia's and Luna's apparent lack of knowledge of their own birth; it still seems to me that they were more perplexed about an Alicorn breeding. They, the mane six and even we as the audience expected the baby to be a normal pony. Even though the Alicorn genetic trait seems to be dominant, it would still make sense that they had no knowledge of it if Cadance is indeed the first one of them to breed. All in all, I really enjoyed these episodes. True, it was clunky in places, but it also shined in a lot of others. I look forward to what the rest of season six has to offer.

Maybe it's just confirming the idea that Cadance is the first Alicorn to actually breed.

I look at the image posted by the OP and the only thing that runs through my head is how much I want that Derpy bag. Honestly, I wouldn't mind if I found a picture of myself on twitter like that. In fact, it'd be kind of endearing.

Well... He might be talking about Sassy Saddles. He doesn't seem to have any love for her.

I subscribe to the height=power level theory. After all, Twilight grew slightly when she was ascended, both her height and her horn. Not to mention she gained the more pronounced breast and overall silhouette that Alicorns tend to have. Though it's rare, it's not impossible for a pony/horse to be as tall/taller than an Alicorn. Fleur de Lis is the exact same size as Luna ((Since they share the same body model)), Sassy Saddles may very well be as tall as Luna as well, the delegates from Saddle Arabia are the same size as Celestia and Troubleshoes may be even taller than her. As for Cadance, she's just slightly shorter than Luna. I attribute that to age since we don't know how old Cadance is in comparison to Twilight, Celestia or Luna.

I do so enjoy pony lifespan theories. The way I see it, the absolute upper-most lifespan of a normal pony can be nearly a thousand years. Bear with me on this one while I try to make my case. So, let's start at the beginning. Granny Smith had a direct hoof in the founding of Ponyville, which Twilight says to have been "hundreds" of years previous. I take that on pure speculation to be anywhere between 200 and 500 years. Now, let's take the fact in Granny's flashback in Apple Family Reunion, she looks to be about Applejack's age then while Auntie Applesauce is elderly. Flashforward to the present, Auntie Applesauce is still alive, showing that she's got "hundreds" of years on Granny Smith, which would make here between 400 and a thousand years old. Potentially, Auntie Applesauce could've been alive for the banishment and return of Princess Luna. Now, I realize that this is pure speculation, but it does make one think. It certainly puts an Alicorn's lifespan into questionable perspective. Personally, I believe that all Alicorns are functionally immortal, living for tens of thousands of years, if not hundreds of thousands or even millions of years. After all, Celestia and Luna have not aged a day in well over a thousand years. If a thousand years is a blink of an eye to them, then they are functionally immortal to the perspective of an average pony, even if their upper limit lifespan is a thousand years.

Ugh, this seems to be the more and more likely direction the show is going with Alicorn lore. Me, I personally disliked the "hidden numbers of an allegedly rare race" trope; it's trite. It's a trope used to shore up numbers because the limited number and information of this race usually makes them rather popular, yet it cheapens the brand by completely ignoring previously established information and conflicts. If you absolutely have to retcon, at least be imaginative about it. The problem with adding more Alicorns to the MLP universe is the fact that they would completely disrupt the established dynamics. After all, being an Alicorn immediately makes one Royalty by default. Twilight proved that ((and so did Cadance if you take secondary source material as canon)). What are they gonna do? Section off more areas of Equestria for more smaller Kingdoms? And that's to say nothing of their magical responsibilities. Every Alicorn currently in existence seems to have a specific reason tied to their existence. Celestia raises the Sun, Luna raises the Moon, Cadance is ((presumably)) the guardian of the Magic of Lovers, Twilight is the guardian of the Magic of Friendship. What would happen if more Alicorns show up? What magic would they preside over? Would they take the sky from Pegasi? Would they take the land from Earth Ponies? Would they continuously divide the magic over and over again based on their numbers? All this would only serve to take away from the profundity that's attributed to Alicorns. Of course, politics would get muddied as well. Well, muddied more than they already are. Hell, there are at least two classes of Royalty in the MLP universe; Alicorn sovereignty and classical sovereignty. Independent nations exist; such as Griffonstone or the Crystal Empire before it was more or less annexed into Equestria. Smaller provinces exist as well, such as Maretonia or Saddle Arabia. But as to their positioning when compared to Equestria... we don't know. Celestia and Luna seem to treat these sovereign nations as equals, but there's a definite level of superiority due to she sheer amount of magical power they have as Alicorns. More Alicorns thrown into the mix would definitely add tensions. Not to mention, it makes no sense. After all, Celestia has shown that Alicorns can be made from normal ponies. If there's more Alicorns out there, then why the hell aren't they everywhere like Unicorns, Pegasi and Earth Ponies?

Well, Twilight was freaked out, but not too terribly freaked out. She regained enough composure to make a comment about how that was now the strangest thing that's happened to her instead of screaming. I think she was aware of the possibility that she had her own counterpart, but didn't expect to run into her right as soon as she exited the portal.