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Misty Shadow

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  1. Misty Shadow
    Just like last year, work raised everyone's salaries again. What sucks is that our incentive pay got reduced because of a decision made by a new CEO, but I'm still being recognized as a top performer and getting extra pay for it. 

    I hope this won't be followed by a furlough in early June like last year, but in any case, I'm still glad to have this recognition. 
  2. Misty Shadow
    This can also be found on my DeviantArt gallery. 
    https://www.deviantart.com/cloudmistdragon/art/The-Importance-of-the-Unity-Crystals-in-MLP-956978736
    Opening
    Twilight Sparkle did a great service to Equestria in making the Unity Crystals. This, I know for sure, is a controversial statement. However, I’ll even go a step further and say that what Twilight was revealed to have done to help Equestria in the second issue of the G5 comics is her greatest accomplishment in the series we know of thus far.
    I’ve already never seen why Twilight making the Unity Crystals was such a bad thing. However, what led me to take that step further and say that what she did was a great thing? It’s not simply because I can break down in extensive detail how the criticism of Twilight sealing away the magic of the ponies into crystals, describing it as “character assassination” and “making her a dictator”, is entirely ill-founded. It’s also because I can break down in extensive detail how Twilight sealing away the magic of the ponies into crystals helped Equestria in ways so many fans have never considered and is the kind of accomplishment that Twilight could have never matched beforehand. I’ll begin by touching on why the disparaging of Twilight as a corrupt leader for her actions is irrational, as I’ve done in the past.
    The Greatest Misunderstanding About Twilight in G5
    If you read my “Top 10 Bunk Criticisms of G5” list, you likely remember what I wrote about how the criticism of Twilight’s supposed character assassination in creating the Unity Crystals was founded on false information. At the time I made that list, I was mainly rebutting this bunk criticism with what had been revealed in the second episode of Make Your Mark Chapter 2, Growing Pains, where a message from Twilight reveals that she created the Unity Crystals to stop Opaline from taking over Equestria and stealing its magic.
    This flew completely in the face of the false narrative that was being promoted for months since Issue #2 of the G5 comic’s release, where people were reproving this expansion of G5’s lore as writing Twilight to be acting as an autocrat and forcing the ponies to come together after Opaline stirred up division among them. In actuality, she was just trying to protect them from falling under Opaline’s tyrannical rule, not being a tyrant herself. Now that it’s been confirmed that what had been perceived to have happened didn’t transpire, you would think that would be all. But no. I later found out this criticism was even more bunk than I once thought.    
    Another thing Twilight often gets criticized for in creating the Unity Crystals was taking magic away from the ponies, something they not only have the right to, but something that is shown to be very important to Equestria. The problem with this criticism is, contrary to popular misconception, Twilight never denied the ponies access to their magic. It was always explained in the comic that the magic wouldn’t leave Equestria so long as the ponies lived together in harmony after the Unity Crystals were made and explicitly shown that the ponies still had their magic before their tribes were segregated.

    It wasn’t something Twilight abruptly jumped to do either, another criticism I’ve heard with her creating the Unity Crystals. Discord explained that Equestria had been terrorized for many moons of unrest with things happening that were so terrible, he couldn’t speak of them. Things had clearly gotten so bad that Twilight had no choice but to do what she did.

    I meant what I said at the start. Out of every fallacious G5 criticism that’s been made so far, this is the one that can be debunked most thoroughly. However, since I’ve already done a thorough enough debunking of it in my aforementioned list, I’ll leave it at this. Now that you know the truth that Twilight had nothing but good intentions in creating the Unity Crystals if you were previously uninformed, I can move on to explaining why this was her greatest accomplishment.
    Saving the World with Her Own Magic
    I’m sure the million-dollar question that has been on your mind from the start is, “How can Twilight’s greatest accomplishment be creating the Unity Crystals when she and her friends saved the world in Friendship is Magic numerous times?”. Because in almost all of Twilight’s world-saving endeavors, she needed help from not only her friends, but other ponies and outside forces. It’s a recurring pattern throughout the show, Twilight having to depend on others to help her pull through. She always used the magic of friendship to overcome her greatest adversaries, not her own magic.
    One notable exception was The Cutie Re-Mark, where Twilight held her own against Starlight Glimmer with her own magic, not magic she borrowed from the other princesses like when she first fought Tirek, and was able to convince Starlight to change her ways by herself. However, think about it. Twilight wouldn’t have been in the threatening situation she was in with Starlight had she and her friends succeeded in apprehending her in The Cutie Map. More importantly, if all Starlight needed was a conversation in order to change her mind, is this really the kind of personal achievement you’d consider greater than protecting Equestria from the worst threat we’ve seen so far?
    That’s not an exaggeration, Opaline is indeed the worst threat to Equestria we’ve seen thus far. What other villain in the show have Twilight, her friends, and all of Equestria failed to defeat? The most powerful villains they faced in the show, Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Queen Chrysalis powered by Grogar’s magic, tried something similar to what Opaline tried, turning the citizens of Equestria against each other, and failed. Why did they fail? Because of the Student 6’s efforts, not Twilight’s. Yet in the G5 comic, who stops Opaline from doing this, bringing Equestria back together before the pony tribes decide to split apart again? Twilight. Using her own magic.
    It is true that Discord credits “The Mane-ificent 7” for setting things right and Sunny credits Twilight’s friends for helping create the Unity Crystals. However, who clearly sealed the magic away, made the Unity Crystals what they are, and effectively saved Equestria with only a spell? Twilight. Her message clearly states that she summoned all of her magical strength in order to place the magic in the crystals, not her friends. Could Twilight have ever done this at any point before in FiM? No. This Twilight we see in the comic is Twilight at the pinnacle of her power.
    It makes sense for Twilight’s greatest accomplishment to be made at this point, since this is her at her most powerful. It also makes sense from a writing standpoint, as Twilight’s character arc is finished. This is what she can do with her full potential realized. And even with this full potential realized, it still took everything she had, making this feat all the greater. Not only did she save Equestria from disaster in this moment, she saved Equestria from disaster for generations. I’ll conclude this writing after elaborating on this point.
    Saving Future Generations with Her Own Magic
    Another popular misconception about the Unity Crystals, this one being inspired by a bunk criticism I have yet to tackle, is that because of them, ponies won’t just lose their magic if they fight, they’ll also be sucked into a void if the fighting gets out of control. This bunk criticism is that Twilight “doomed the ponies to be forced to get along.”
    First of all, the ponies were already “being forced to get along” because of the Windigos. For all we know, Twilight could’ve permanently gotten rid of the Windigos, but I digress. Second, who makes the rules with how magic works in Equestria? Twilight, or magic itself? Twilight said that magic is alive and always changing. And even back in her time, how did magic work? It’s right there in the title of her show. It’s how they always defeated the villains in the end. Friendship is magic. Finally, the reason why the ponies were almost sucked into a void in the Make Your Mark series premiere was not because of the Unity Crystals. It was because of the recently returned magic they had not yet stabilized causing damage to the Unity Crystals after their hate made the instability of the magic much worse.
    It's also because of the Unity Crystals that earth ponies can now use magic, meaning they have much less incentive to feel inferior to the other pony tribes and are therefore far less susceptible to the influence of hate propaganda about the other tribes. Furthermore, the ponies are now in a much better position to fight back against Opaline than they were during the time of Twilight’s reign. This was no happy accident, as Twilight showed with her message that she knew ahead of time that earth pony magic would activate, calling magic more powerful than it’s ever been. She knew from facing Opaline that she couldn’t be defeated unless ponies in future generations had access to stronger magic...as well as a strong alicorn to lead them.  
    Without the Unity Crystals, where would Sunny Starscout be? They not only gave her a reason to push on with her quest to reunite all of ponykind, they also made her an alicorn. However, a convenient coincidence that this happened, I think not. After all, Sunny lives in the place where the Unity Crystals were meant to be brought together and the episode of Tell Your Tale, Starscout Code, reveals that she and her friends are part of a prophecy. Yes, Twilight even knew from her own experiences that this strong alicorn who would lead the ponies in the future would also need friends. That prophecy is also something that Sunny and her friends would have only been able to put together through exploring Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood Forest and using earth pony magic.  
    Take a moment to muse over all this. Can you appreciate just how much thought and care Twilight actually put into her plan for the generations that would follow her? The level of foresight she had? And then can you look back at what so many believed about her and think that her creation of the Unity Crystals was just some reckless action of a desperate despot? Or can you accept the fact that she did all this because she deeply cares about Equestria? I’m not writing from the standpoint of an apologist. I’m not writing in defense of Twilight. I’m writing to laud Twilight. To honor her for saving Equestria from a villain none could defeat with her own magical prowess, keeping the magic safe for generations, and giving the future generations the resources they needed to save Equestria from this villain themselves. All of this was accomplished through the creation of the Unity Crystals. I rest my case.
    Conclusion
    This is where what I know for sure will be my most controversial MLP essay yet ends. I’ve never made any promises to always play it safe, there’s a time and place to take risks. I already know this writing is not going to change the minds of people who will never accept G5, but I'm confident it can change your mind if you genuinely wanted to give G5 a chance but were dissuaded from doing so by G5 criticisms rooted in fallacies. Honestly, however, this isn’t even really about G5. I’m more or less just incredibly tired of the pretense that a character who will always have a special place in my heart was done dirty by what has clearly been done in honor of her. The creation of the Unity Crystals is far from Twilight’s greatest folly, it is actually her greatest accomplishment yet.   
  3. Misty Shadow
    I had another weird dream last night, this one involved me being lost in a mall. I was trying to find my away around while I was getting confused by turns that would take me to these swamp-like areas, as if I was walking in a forest. Then, suddenly, I was with my siblings by these screens showing this poster of a G5 Equestria Girls movie that was playing in theaters. The poster looked like anime-inspired fanart, showcasing a human Sunny with these other characters who looked like The Dazzlings. Immediately, this image of a YouTube video titled, "I Watched the G5 Equestria Girls Movie So You Didn't Have To", with the internet reviewer Saberspark putting his hands on his face beside the word, "Awful...", in the thumbnail flashed through my mind before I was then by this seating area in the mall reading badly written reviews of the movie online on my phone with my older brother (in real life, he's never been a brony to my knowledge). We were laughing about how they had poor spelling and grammar and TikTok lingo in them before I woke up. 
    And then, of course, the first thing I saw when I looked at a G5 thread today on another pony site...was someone bringing up G5 Equestria Girls. 
  4. Misty Shadow
    I had a really awful dream on Sunday night where people broke into my home and tried to kill me. One of them was someone I knew from the past who hated me and somehow lit me on fire with these flakes I was trying to get off my clothes before they burst into flames and set me on fire. I ran towards the person screaming something and I don't remember what happened after that. Probably the worst nightmare I've had since my dream about my mom and the guns. 
  5. Misty Shadow
    It was only a matter of time after I did my essay on Izzy that I did one on Sunny. 
    https://www.deviantart.com/mistybrightshadow/art/Understanding-Sunny-Starscout-MLP-Essay-1007900134
    It will also only be a matter of time before I do one on Hitch. 
  6. Misty Shadow

    My Personal 2023 Retrospect

    By Misty Shadow,


    Personal Life
    Doing this a little earlier than usual, totally not because of inspiration from Props. Anyway, to recount what 2023 was like for me personally, it was another pretty mid-tier year of ups and downs. 
    Work this year, unlike last year, was not a slog at all early on. Unfortunately, that furlough I've talked about in the past hit me like a truck in June, lasting two months longer than I would've wanted. The middle of the year was definitely not good in regards to progress with work, especially with the struggle of trying to find a job to hold me over given the poor state of the current job market. However, once I got hired back after the furlough's end, everything was pretty much smooth sailing. My job was busier at the end of the year than last year and I ended up making the most money I've made in one year since 2020. 
    I also got back in touch with the friend I had a falling out of with in 2022, I will never forget this year as the year my friendship with this person was rekindled. I will also always cherish this year as the year where I got to connect more with people on this site through Silky's server and see the awesome things that she and many of the new members on the staff have done to make this site a better place. Things were different with how I saw family for the holidays this year, no trips out of town. I did enjoy how we got to do something simple this year for Christmas and how there was no drama at all. 
    One bad thing that happened this year besides the furlough that I will never forget is the destruction of my old DeviantArt account over a false DMCA claim. Obviously, real life stuff is more important, but my CloudMistDragon account was something that meant a lot to me and had a place in my heart. Regardless, I forgave the person responsible for what happened to my account for what they did when they apologized and the new account archiving all my works now has more followers than my old one did before the final work uploaded on it was posted. Unlike last year, I was actually less productive with art and getting games done, but I did do some drawings I was pretty proud of and still got seven games done. Also, as opposed to last year, I was more productive with writing, pumping out essays and releasing three stories in a single year. 
    Not a particularly great year, but also not a bad one by any means. As always, I wish you all the best going into next year.
  9. Misty Shadow

    The Root of G5 Negativity

    By Misty Shadow,


    Essays
    I've already discussed G5 criticisms I feel are bunk, so how about trying to get to the root of all the negativity? 
    https://www.deviantart.com/mistybrightshadow/art/The-Root-of-G5-Negativity-MLP-Essay-1001126731
    I think there's more to it than meets the eye. 
  10. Misty Shadow

    Make Your Mark Chapter 6 Review

    By Misty Shadow,


    Reviews
    After watching all of Make Your Mark Chapter 6 hours after its premiere, I got straight to work on my full review of it, which I now have up! 
    https://www.deviantart.com/mistybrightshadow/art/Make-Your-Mark-Chapter-6-Review-996798944
    I'm really going to miss reviewing MYM if this is the end of it, but I think I'm going to like reviewing the next part of G5's story. 
  12. Misty Shadow
    Last night, I came home from work to find that my bedroom door was locked on me. It has a European style handle with a lock that got turned slightly somehow and locked me out. This had me freaking out last night, since all of my important stuff is in my bedroom, including my computers. I couldn't find any bobby pins or good, sturdy cards for sliding to help get the door open, so I just had to make do with the cards I had in my wallet and brute force. After fifteen minutes of trying, I was finally able to force the door open. Very glad I didn't have to call a locksmith, but I really do need to get a new door handle in case this happens again... 
  13. Misty Shadow
    I had a pretty disturbing nightmare last night where I was overhearing two relatives talking about how I wasn't doing good enough in life, which got me depressed and led me to taking all sorts of antidepressant drugs. Then I was in this truck that was on its way to see popular Youtuber, penguinz0/MoistCr1TiKaL. When we met, we had this conversation. I don't remember what we talked about, but the next day, it was all over the internet that he had committed suicide. I was blamed for his death for being the last person he was in contact with. I took some more antidepressant drugs to cope with everyone being angry at me and I passed out on a bed before I woke up. 
  14. Misty Shadow
    Pipp the Poltergeist, the "ghostified" Pipp from my latest story, was in a dream of mine last night. I dreamed I was with Mordecai and Rigby from Regular Show in this resort's outdoor pool area. Rigby was complaining about this coffee he got when Pipp the Poltergeist showed up and started telling us to chase her. We gave chase, and this song about ice cream started playing. I can only remember one part of the song distinctly, where during the chorus, someone is saying, "Ice cream's great! Yeah, ice cream's great!". Then, all of a sudden, I was in a movie theater where this guy dressed in white robes like a priest was selling movie tickets and I don't remember what happened after that. 
  15. Misty Shadow
    Yes friends, I disliked something from G5...in a dream. I dreamed last night that I was watching this G5 movie that I believe was supposed to be this MLP adaptation of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, like a Classics Reimagined kind of thing. The reason I say that is because Hitch was dressed like Tom Sawyer and the way the characters were talking made it seem like the makers of the movie were trying to adapt dialogue from a book while not doing a good job of it. It was so boring to watch I started yelling things like, "This is worse than Rainbow Roadtrip!", "Even the worst Tell Your Tale shorts are more entertaining than this!", and "We're an hour in and I haven't laughed once!".  Then, right after I said that last line, something funny in the movie happened and I yelled, "I jinxed it!". Then I saw that Izzy's head was split in two down to her throat area. There was no blood though and she made a joke about it before she made herself whole again. All I remember after that was her making some movie references before I woke up. 
  17. Misty Shadow
    I may have reviewed MYM Chapter 4 already in its discussion thread, but that was just for a warmup. This is the real review I always wanted to do for it. 
    https://www.deviantart.com/mistybrightshadow/art/Make-Your-Mark-Chapter-4-Review-971157815
    I also wanted to do this after watching all the episodes more than once because I didn't just want the writing in the review to be just right, I wanted all my thoughts to be just right as well. This chapter deserves that extra polish for a review. It's that awesome. 
  19. Misty Shadow
    This was already posted in the Make Your Mark pilot thread, but it's been a long time since I last posted a review in a blog post, so here you go. 
    https://www.deviantart.com/mistybrightshadow/art/Make-Your-Mark-Chapter-1-Review-970891594
    The pilot special to the MLP G5 series, Make Your Mark, deserves more credit than what it’s generally given. I don’t believe that to be a particularly controversial statement, given the evidence that shows this special is actually generally regarded by the majority of MLP fans to be good, just not great.
     
    I was in this apparent majority at the time when this special was brand new. However, it has always been common for me to come across some bizarre and questionable criticisms for this special coming from fans who would definitely be shocked by the subject of this writing. Usually, people who don’t like this special, which is their right, just say they find it boring, that the oddities in the animation were a turn-off, and that they felt the story had pacing issues. Those are the normal criticisms I usually see. The outlandish stuff I’ve come across is people saying that it’s “proof G5 has already failed”, viewing it as worse than the worst specials of Friendship is Magic, worse than Tell Your Tale, and a “return to the pandering, substance-lacking, girly mushiness” that the worst of pre-G4 My Little Pony is notorious for.
    Remarks like this have been given a fair share of reproval. However, the stigma surrounding this pilot remains. Why? Even with its flaws, the writing, animation, world-building, and humor are still clearly competent at worst. I can admittedly say the same for Tell Your Tale too, but that series, despite being something I generally enjoyed more than the pilot when I first watched it, very clearly has far less effort put into its production. My theory as to why this special has the stigma it does, however, has to do with just that. It’s because this special had a higher production value that people held it to a higher standard. Not only did people who don’t like the Tell Your Tale shorts want this special to make up for them, they also wanted the special to make up for flaws in the G5 movie, My Little Pony: A New Generation, giving them more lore explaining why Equestria changed.
    MLP content in general is too often held to an unreachably high standard of quality. It’s even worse in this case too once you consider this pilot’s true role. It’s not to “clean up a mess”. It’s to get the audience settled into the world of a TV show, and that is a job that takes any show time. It already is “making up for Tell Your Tale”, not just by having higher production value, but a much more intricate plot than several of the Tell Your Tale shorts put together. That plot is also not about Equestria’s past and why it changed. This pilot’s plot is about Equestria’s present. Trying to squeeze in a subplot about what happened in the past, something that was already planned for the comics, would’ve been jarring, especially to viewers unfamiliar with the full story of Friendship is Magic.
    Long story short, this pilot needs to be judged on its own merits. I admit that I had my own personal biases too on what it “should’ve been” my first time viewing, which caused me to not like it very much. I wanted a story focusing on Sunny, not Zipp. I quickly dismissed Posey as a “less entertaining” Sprout. Having been spoiled by Tell Your Tale’s fast-paced shorts, slower-paced scenes felt like they were dragging on. But when I re-watched the special after putting those sentiments past me, it was far more entertaining than I remembered.
    The big contributing factor to me enjoying it much more upon re-watch was realizing that there were no true flaws with the plot’s structure. The world-building aspect of the story picks up right where the movie left off, providing essential development about how the magic works, there are no filler scenes, and every main character plays a role that contributes to the story. I’ve heard criticism of how this special gives every main character a role to play, saying "their stories don’t come together", calling their plot points “random detours that aren’t connected to the main story”.
    I believe this critique to be bunk. First of all, of course the stories of the main characters come together, the entire plot is about the ponies uniting to create new magic while discovering how it works, the actions of the main characters are vital to that development of the series' world. Second, nothing about their plot points is random or meandering at all. Sunny needs to learn to control her powers in order to save the ponies who fall into the void, she needs Izzy’s lamp to light the way, Zipp does not randomly become a detective with her progression as one being a staple of the series, Pipp’s scene at the salon is important buildup to the scene where the characters discover what causes the magic to glitch, and Hitch’s plot is necessary for adding a new character to the series. Even if Hitch's plot point might not appear necessary to one's idea of this opener’s plot, it is necessary to the series’ overarching plot. Writers for a series like this can not just write with no semblance of a plot. This special is part of a series with lore that has been planned in advance and impacts all of G5’s media.
    A more understandable criticism I’ve heard of this special is the lack of elaboration on what the holiday, Maretime Bay Day, meant to the earth ponies. It is explained as a celebration of their traditions, but doesn’t go in-depth. This is for the special’s benefit though, as focusing on giving every main character a role to play in a character-driven plot is far more important that giving a holiday an extensive background. However, since this is my own personal re-assessment of the special, I need to move onto deconstructing past opinions of my own.
    A criticism of the plot of my own I am honestly contemplating retracting now is how the story focuses on Zipp instead of the main character, Sunny, even as the subplot surrounding her is predictable, having an easily foreseeable conclusion. I realize now that since the plot is about figuring out how the magic works, it makes perfect sense for “Detective Zipp” to be put in the spotlight. As for the subplot, of course we all know Zipp is not going back to Zephyr Heights. But is it really so needless if you look at it as progress for Zipp’s character, choosing where she feels she really belongs?
    More on my own criticisms, I still don’t find Posey as amusing as Sprout…but I appreciate her character more now. Despite the fact that she’s a jerk, much of her frustration is easy to empathize with and I enjoy how that seems to be the writer’s intent. In real life, people are not the way Posey is for no reason. They generally just want to be left alone, like Posey, so when you see Posey face obstruction and the destruction of her property, you feel a sense of understanding. You can also understand why she and the other earth ponies would feel a sense of inferiority to the other pony breeds for not having magic like them, driving them to bad behavior. When she and all the other earth ponies get their own magic, you feel happy for them even after the way they act. This is also crucial for the world-building this special provides, since now, Posey and the earth ponies are less justified in feeling that their behavior is acceptable.
    Finally, while I am still more partial to stories with faster pacing, I did not find any flaws with the flow of this special’s storytelling after viewing it again. I already mentioned how there’s no filler, every scene is important to the plot, and every character plays an important role. Animation oddities can still be a distraction from the viewing experience, most notable to me upon rewatch was color shading around the eyes of the characters that made them look tired at certain parts. It was still easy for me to be invested in the plot though as I appreciated more how elaborate and colorful the animation was and noticed how much humor sprinkled throughout the scenes there actually was. Izzy’s reaction to Pipp singing her very unfinished song in the kitchen, for example, is priceless. Other great moments include Izzy’s explanation of the secret ingredient, Hitch’s “It’s not not allowed!” line, and Zipp’s timeless “I can zip it.” pun. Some of the humor is stupidly amusing, definitely, but it’s the good kind of corny humor Friendship is Magic gave us plenty of too.
    Overall, this pilot is nowhere near as mundane or poorly done as some have framed it to be. This is another high-quality MLP special that you may have been led to believe is far worse than it actually is because of biased criticisms from fans trying to only focus on its shortcomings while ignoring its accomplishments. It’s still up to you to make up your own mind, but I hope my re-assessment will encourage you to go back to the special and re-assess it for yourself.
  20. Misty Shadow
    Even though I've kind of already reviewed this chapter, I felt that it deserved a much more detailed review in the style of my MYM Chapter 1 re-assessment, so here we go. 
    https://www.deviantart.com/mistybrightshadow/art/MYM-Chapter-2-Review-Pre-MYM-C4-Release-970987346
    Prelude
    Make Your Mark Chapter 2 is currently my favorite piece of G5 content. At this moment in time, it’s the second most positively received part of G5’s media, with the most positively received part being the movie. While the movie is still highly enjoyable to me despite its minor shortcomings, I am most attached to MYM’s second chapter at the moment. Granted, I’ve also been very engaged with Tell Your Tale, watching all of the shorts and getting at least some kind of enjoyment out of even the worst ones, and have been impressed with the comics thus far as well. Nothing beats the feeling, however, of finally getting to watch MLP like I would watch a show like Avatar: The Last Airbender, where every episode of the series is contributing to a grandiose story. It’s just too good of a treat to me to finally see every episode being centered around a world-changing plot that is consistently developing the show’s setting and characters.
    Of course, I’m well-aware that just because a show is plot-centric, doesn’t mean it’s good. I dare you to try reading that statement without thinking of Velma. I’m sure you can already guess though that I have legitimate reasons for viewing MYM Chapter 2 as good. I’m sure you’ve also guessed that the way I plan to elaborate my reasons is through a breakdown of my feelings on every single episode from the chapter. Slight spoiler before we get into that, I do like every episode, even as I definitely subscribe to the popular opinion that some episodes are better than others. However, even the episodes that are not as good as others in my eyes and the eyes of many, I can make a case as to why they are still worthy inclusions to the series. So here we go…
    Episode Breakdown
    Izzy Does It
    A very adequate opener to the chapter. While Make Your Mark Chapter 1 took some time to sink in, this episode immediately captured me and a lot of fans with its relatable plot and character conflict. It’s not without flaws. Zipp and Hitch aren’t immensely impactful to the plot, it’s not the funniest episode of the chapter (even as I’ll admit that gag with the pony mimicking Misty that I didn’t catch initially gave me a good laugh and I appreciate the humor in those scenes at the Crystal Brighthouse more now), and it treats us to a major stumble from Pipp that even had me sighing.
    However, I love how well this episode sets up the dynamic between the show’s main cast and the villains, even giving us more insight to the dynamic between Misty and Opaline right out of the gate, the song in this episode is one of my absolute favorites, and it’s just really fun to compare and contrast how both Pipp and Izzy tackle creative block, something every creative type struggles with. I get why it’s considered the “true opener” to the series by many despite me finding greater appreciation for MYM Chapter 1.
    Growing Pains  
    What a perfect follow-up to this chapter’s humble beginning. Everyone remembers this one for Twilight Sparkle’s stunning return. Personally, I remember it more for how well Hitch sells it. Well, that, and how shockingly well Sprout of all ponies sells it too. Although it’s a minor disappointment how we never get a clear-cut explanation of what exactly happened to him after the events of the movie, his purposefully unlikable persona being a catalyst for the plot immediately reeled me in. It makes perfect sense for him to be unintentionally causing trouble in a way we can all understand, given that this episode explains that the ponies need to use their magic.
    The writing is spot-on with how both the main plot and the subplot with Izzy intertwine with exposing the problem with Hitch’s philosophy. Rules and regulations absolutely do not fix everything and Hitch’s realization of this leading him to try getting rid of earth pony magic was beautifully done. Yes, he went too far, but that was the point. He loves the ponies of his town too much to be okay with them being in potential danger and grows as a character by having the courage to admit that he’s gone too far. If it was, let’s say, Sunny who had to stop him rather than him stopping himself, that would’ve been a letdown. However, what we actually got was an impressive moment of character development through self-reflection. Top that off with how Twilight’s message ramps up the stakes of the show’s plot, and you have an episode that perfectly encapsulates why I love this chapter.
    Portrait of a Princess
    I swear that it’s just a coincidence how I’m immediately talking about everyone’s favorite episode from this chapter right after that statement concluding my Growing Pains review. Everyone knows why this one works. Take the relatability from Izzy Does It and multiply it by ten, even people who don’t have siblings can see why the way Pipp and Zipp go at it with each other clicks with so many. Even if Zipp didn’t amuse me (and scare me, heh…) so much in this one with how much she was reminding me of my older sister, my heart still would’ve been touched by that endearing moment where she and Pipp realize how much they actually care about each other.
    On one hand, it also amuses me how people say Hitch went too far with trying to get rid of earth pony magic out of concern, yet Misty is somehow not going too far with trying to murder Pipp and Zipp (under Opaline’s order, but still). Yet on the other hand, Pipp and Zipp being in life-threatening peril does make that heartwarming moment much more effective. This episode also got me to like Queen Haven more, with her not just contributing humor and her majestic singing to the episode, but also making said moment even more effective with the interesting background she gives on Pipp and Zipp’s relationship. The song’s really sweet too, I could never dislike this episode even as it’s not my personal favorite.
    Ali-Conned
    This one is easily the most divisive episode of the chapter. Even I had conflicting feelings on it at first. It’s mean-spirited, no denying that. However, let’s be real. I have to be brutally honest in saying that the mean-spirited nature of this episode…was essential. Contrary to what some say, Sunny is not a Mary Sue, and this episode illustrates exactly why this disparagement of her character is undeserved. A Mary Sue would be loved by the entire town for being her perfect self. It’s because Sunny has character that she’s willing to endure abuse and rejection from the town for being herself. This is consistent with what she was like in the movie and the townsponies are being consistent with what they were like in the movie with their cruelty as well. Just because they can now appreciate Sunny’s status doesn’t mean they appreciate her personality.
    It’s made clear frequently throughout the episode that they are admiring Sunny for the wrong reasons and to continue with being brutally honest, Sunny brought some of her pain on herself with her naivete of this glaring fact. I can agree that Sunny’s naivete in this one with how she trusts Opaline’s cover as her “inner voice” is a bit hard to believe, even after Opaline’s dead giveaway line, but I honestly laughed at that line, because, well…that was the joke. I don’t find the Filly Four (or Three, not counting Misty) to be the most entertaining deliberately unlikable characters, but I enjoyed the subplot with Pipp’s “shadowbanishing” (especially with how hilarious Pipp is here) and Sparky. Its “be yourself” message tied in with the main plot’s message appropriately. Get why some are torn on this one, but it’s not even close to bad.
    The Cutie Mark Mix-Up
    This episode defines “flawed fun” to me. The plot is predictable, the message is predictable, and as far as advancing the show’s plot goes, it’s very arguably the least impactful. Yet there’s no flaw with this episode that stops me from enjoying it. …Okay, I confess, even if it’s just my bias for Hitch talking, my disagreement with making smoothies being portrayed to be as difficult as taking care of animals mars my enjoyment slightly. But nothing about the way this episode is flawed bewilders me or compels me to make a rewrite out of disappointment.
    This episode’s predictability is very much in line with the predictability of episodes from its precursor, Friendship is Magic, where it’s obvious from the get-go that both sides are to be viewed as equally wrong and need to come to an equal understanding. It’s a very standard trope, and it’s very understandable why it’s so prevalent in entertainment. Here though, it might again just be my bias for Hitch talking, but I find it silly how him at least preparing smoothies competently gets conflated with him “not being able to make smoothies to save his hide”. Still, Sunny and Hitch bickering like an old married couple will never fail to entertain me, I really did like the humor in this one. Izzy really had me laughing and I was even able to chuckle at Zipp’s “bottom” joke. The other jokes were definitely better though. The weakest part of the chapter…but that’s not saying much.
    The Traditional Unicorn Sleep-Over
    Another fan favorite, this episode is often called the second best part of the chapter. Strangely though, even a beloved episode like this has attracted fallacious criticism of…Izzy being too trusting of Misty and inviting her to the Crystal Brighthouse despite having just met her. Yeah…because it’s not like Izzy has always established herself as the most unsuspecting pony out of the Mane 5 and had more incentive than ever to do this in ecstasy over having a unicorn friend for her celebration. Not to mention that her first encounter with Misty is hilarity. True, it is silly how Zipp’s the only pony to suspect Misty, but ponies being overly trusting is nothing new. Twilight and her friends got outsmarted by a child villain after all. I hope Hitch can join Zipp in being suspicious given that he’s also a detective, but I digress.
    It’s still a ton of fun to watch how starkly Zipp’s suspicion of Misty contrasts with Izzy’s unquestioning acceptance of her, and of course, how Misty is always on edge trying to maintain her façade. What she believes about how magic left Equestria from the lies Opaline has indoctrinated her with is fascinating too. With her being a fan favorite character, it’s no surprise why the episode that features her most prominently is a fan favorite. It is an episode I regard highly myself, even as I enjoy Izzy and Zipp in it just as much as I enjoy Misty. More people need to appreciate the irony of how Izzy and Misty still share something in common other than being unicorns despite Misty knowing zilch about unicorn traditions. They both know all too well what it’s like to feel alone.
    Hoof Done It?
    This episode is what I used to consider the weakest part of the chapter. Remember my criticism of Pipp’s stumble in my thoughts on Izzy Does It? Well, her folly in this episode always grated my nerves a lot more and really jaded my view of this episode for quite some time, even as I still enjoyed it for the most part. Now, however, looking back on it in retrospect, I do understand the logic behind Pipp doing what she did better. With her being completely trusting of Misty and wanting to do something nice for her sister, it’s easier for me to give her a pass now that I can appreciate her well-intended actions more despite the consequences they had. Everyone in this episode is very likable with the part each of them play in the plot, even the Pippsqueaks shine in a great moment and in the song.
    This was also the peak of the tension between Zipp and Misty, still love that part where it looks like Misty’s going to crack before Pipp steps in. This one is also very strong in regards to humor, with me still loving the heck out of the bathtub gag and Zipp questioning Izzy, and that song…oh man, it’s easily my second favorite song of the chapter. Already an earworm, and that Blitzkrieg Bop reference just seals the deal. It’s still not a favorite part of mine, but I have more respect for its high points than I used to.
    Have You Seen This Dragon?
    Now this episode, the final part, is what I’ve always considered to be the strongest part. I already thought it was cool what the characters could be like in a story where they find something important to them. Now, we get to see what they’re like getting together to find someone important to them. It’s awesome in every way, this one easily has the best plot to me and the main characters at their best to me, at least so far in the series. Especially Hitch. I know some people don’t like Dragon Dad Hitch. I know some people prefer Serious Officer Hitch. I can respect their opinions. But I have to ask…why can’t we have both? Hitch was being more than just true to his serious enforcer of justice self in this one…he literally turned into Batman he was so serious. They show Hitch at his peak and do a great job playing it for laughs at the same time. Genius.
    And then there’s Misty, who’s also at her finest hour here. The perfectly competent and perfectly incompetent villainous henchman in one. One moment, you’re admiring how smoothly she can dodge Sparky’s traps, and the next moment, you’re laughing at her tripping and fumbling. It doesn’t even matter if you love Misty and despise Sparky, it’s still fun to watch because of the well-done balance between her competence and ineptitude. And then comes the ending, where I start feeling bad for laughing at Misty’s suffering once I see how unapologetically vicious Opaline is to the poor girl. It’s a brilliantly done dark and emotional moment at the end where Misty cries about how lonely and unloved she feels, and the perfect cliffhanger for the next part of the series where we’re undoubtedly going to see her start blending in more with the Mane 5 and standing up more to Opaline. What more could I want from this chapter’s finale?
    Episode Rankings and Scores From Least Favorite to Favorite
    I may as well list how I would currently rank every episode…
    8. The Cutie Mark Mix-Up 8.5/10 B (Good, but obviously flawed)
    7. Hoof Done It? 8.8/10 B+ (Good, but moderately flawed)
    6. Ali-Conned 9/10 A- (Great, notable but minimal flaws)
    5. Izzy Does It 9.1/10 A- (Great, but could use improvement)
    4. The Traditional Unicorn Sleep-Over 9.2/10 A- (Solid, but could use a few improvements)
    3. Portrait of a Princess 9.5/10 A (Very solid, little room for improvement)
    2. Growing Pains 9.7/10 A (Excellent, very little room for improvement)
    1. Have You Seen This Dragon? 9.9/10 A (Nearly flawless)
    Overall Thoughts
    I am honestly very satisfied with the quality of Make Your Mark’s second chapter as a whole. Even the least impactful part of the chapter helped move the plot along seamlessly and even foreshadowed an upcoming plot point, even the most controversial, mean-spirited episode was only mean-spirited in the name of giving a character the pruning she needed to grow, and even the worst episodes gave me something new to appreciate looking at them more objectively in retrospect. In this review, I did admittedly have to focus on reviewing each individual episode’s aspects rather than the overarching plot of the series, since we are currently only eight episodes into the plot and I don’t believe it’s been developed enough for me to give an accurate review at the moment.
    However, I do like the current direction the plot is headed in with the way magic is being incorporated into the world, the way the main cast is being developed, and the likely impending turn the plot line with the villains will take. Growing Pains hit the nail on the head so well with how it expanded the world in the face of conflicts inevitably brought about by new magic, only Sunny had less character growth than I anticipated with her being the main protagonist, and Misty has not only captivated my heart, but the hearts of many fans who are excited to see how her character will progress with both the main characters and the main antagonist. The state of the plot right now is awesome for the standards of a young kids show.  
    Some people would disagree, saying the quality of this chapter is okay at best. I can live with that. However, the fundamental adequacies of this chapter should not be ignored. If this new incarnation of MLP wants to try its hand (hoof) at a plot-centric show, why shouldn’t it? Would you rather be getting twenty-six “filler” episodes of a show you don’t like? If it has us asking all sorts of questions about the lore, that’s a good thing, since it shows that we’re invested in learning more about the lore. MLP isn’t even lore-heavy, so even if they’re supposedly “breaking the lore”, why shouldn’t they try doing what so many fans are already begging them to do? They can’t go back in time now and unmake this series a soft sequel to G4…so why shouldn’t they “do their own thing”? Regardless, I just watch MYM because I enjoy the show. I do not take how it relates to FiM too seriously, I just enjoy it for what it is and I’m always willing to back up my arguments as to why I like the show so much.       
  22. Misty Shadow

    Job Applying

    By Misty Shadow,


    Life
    I'm applying for jobs right now to fill the gap in the wait for my furlough to end, so please wish me luck. To my displeasure, unemployment has not helped me out in any way whatsoever and I had to get in touch with a manager from Macy's last night about why I hadn't received my call for my return-to-work date within two weeks. I was told that they "hadn't received word yet on return dates for furloughed colleagues". I'm very tired of this, very unhappy right now. 
  23. Misty Shadow
    Yes, I decided to give myself a roasting while also explaining why I've changed the way I write my stories. You can read this list on both my FiMFiction.net blog and on DeviantArt. 
    https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/1022484/my-top-10-worst-mlp-stories-mistakes-as-a-writer
    https://www.deviantart.com/mistybrightshadow/art/My-Top-10-Worst-MLP-Stories-Writing-Mistakes-982675763
    Be warned, things do get a little personal at the end, but it's something I had to explain in order for people to understand. 
  24. Misty Shadow
    Just got a call from my supervisor from Macy's an hour ago telling me that I'm scheduled to come back to work August 20th. After the nightmare that has been trying to find a job these past two months with how unspeakably awful the job market has gotten, "relieved" doesn't even begin to describe how I feel right now. I'm elated over finally having a load off my back. Believe it or not, this furlough period has actually not affected me much financially. My mental health was impacted worse from this time of uncertainty, thus why I'm fully appreciating this good news. 
  25. Misty Shadow
    I've now merged with MistyBrightShadow, the account that archived all my work on DeviantArt, and have posted my first new theory there. 
    https://www.deviantart.com/mistybrightshadow/art/Sombra-Hope-and-Umbrum-in-G5-Theory-Part-2-974161203
    Even if we don't get umbrum in Make Your Mark, hope they can at least be an implied part of the lore. 
     
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