HedonismBot

I have precisely zero interest in parenthood in any context, but helping Scootaloo develop her mechanical skills could be fun. I personally have thought about building myself an airplane one day.

Unicorn powers sound like they'd be the most practical for what I'm into. Plus they'd theoretically include creating enchanted devices. Given the examples of magically-enhanced technology from the show (such as Tank's propeller), I could have a lot of fun with that plus my engineering background.

Well, it did refer to Sunny as "the main character of the last generation of My Little Pony", when it should have been the current generation.

There may be less of a drive to re-learn magic if the unicorns adopt all the fancy technology from Zephyr Heights, true. Though I had always though it would have been more interesting to see more sophisticated examples of combining magic and technology than just fancier real-world technology.

There's also the matter that all the stuff that looks unusually advanced was powered by magic (the staff said as much). Losing magic would have forced them to redo much of their technology from scratch.

"Surf and/or Turf" had Sweetie Belle using Accelero, and "Growing Up is Hard to Do" had her teleport.

I'm sure she could easily get into the School for Gifted Unicorns if she were so inclined. It's also worth mentioning that she developed her skills despite having a special talent in something else altogether, which should put the kibosh on the fan theory that only unicorns with a magic-related cutie mark are physically capable of practicing advanced magic (it's just that ponies in general rarely sink that level of effort into developing skills in general outside their special talent).

Okay, so it turns out it's not the actual 44 inute special we were promised next year, just a Youtube-exclusive short: 2D Youtube Exclusive Generation 5 Animation Releasing in Spring

I'm pretty sure I've seen an article claiming that at least one of the specials would be in 2D.

The time skip appears to be on the order of 1000 years, give or take. We could reasonably expect Discord and Spike to still be alive somewhere, maybe some of the alicorns, but most likely no one else.

I did say "unintentional" - I'm well aware that they'd never actually send that sort of message on purpose. It seems they were just timid about acknowledging that Scootaloo had a bona fide disability (even when they finally did after "Growing Up is Hard to Do", they included the line "fans are welcome to interpret things how they like"), which would make it hard to competently deliver any sort of disability-related message.

None of the tribes were aware that the others had also lost their magic, which implies that the race relations breakdown came before the magic going AWOL (though it doesn't prove it 100%, what with all the misinformation floating around). Plus the stained glass in the abandoned airship station shows Twilight's cutie mark radiating energy towards the crystals, implying that she was somehow involved.

Well, that was a problem with the CMC in general - they all developed their own individual talents over the series, only for all that to be tossed out in favor of taking the easy way out to include them in the finale. Though it is especially problematic for Scootaloo - "Flight to the Finish" had her learn that even if she can't fly, she's still special in other ways. Then the one and only time there is any discussion of her translating said "other ways" into a career, it almost gets her killed. Then the finale sticks her in a profession that she had only briefly hinted that she might have any interest in whatsoever. Not to mention nopony ever bothered to introduce her to the wonderful world of aeronautical engineering. The unintentional message to people with disabilities seems to be "Don't bother looking for a workaround to achieve your dream, don't bother seeking out a respectable alternative, just take whatever mundane job you can get and be happy with that".

The problem was that regardless of what message the writers intended, Scootaloo's emotional "I can't fly!" rant to Rainbow Dash (coupled with Rainbow heavily implying that she was expecting Scootaloo to somehow follow her into the Wonderbolts) stole the show. If they wanted to conclusively have the audience believe that Scootaloo taking an interest in the Washouts was a bad move, then her wing situation should have been left out of it. That or reform Lightning Dust and have her offer to let Scootaloo have another shot when she's grown up (and they've implemented actual safety measures).

Multiple fans have suggested that it should have aired several seasons prior (when their behavior would have been reasonably plausible), but that's also an interesting idea. And then there's "The Washouts": We see that Scootaloo being offered the perfect alternative to the Wonderbolts: a career which would match up perfectly with her skills and interests, but not require flight. And then we were given the message that that was a BAD thing, and there would be no further discussion of what non-Wonderbolt pursuits she might pursue. Plus sticking them in the school as teachers felt like the lazy way out, like the writers just wanted to stick them in the finale somewhere.

Bulk Biceps' love of lifting stems from the extensive strength training it took to get flying despite being even more poorly endowed than Scootaloo. On that note, Scootaloo never bothered to investigate the wonderful world of aeronautical engineering because she's been doing everything she can to get flying on her own two wings before relying on technology. Well, "non-conforming" is pretty much the core of his personality, so...

I've recently found myself relating to Scootaloo's struggles with the whole "can't fly" thing, but for a very different reason than most fans: My dreams have yet to be achieved* despite the fact that by all logic it should have been possible**. * For all I've done to develop my skills, the high-tech engineering jobs I've been aiming at have been playing hard-to-get. ** Throughout MLP canon, there have been multiple examples of technology that could have helped Scootaloo get flying if she'd never be able to do so naturally, but nopony bothered to tell her that.

No, Twilight just opened it as a non-accredited school. The thing is, he was also opposed to letting non-pony students into the School of Friendship, and approved Flim and Flam's competing school on the condition that they only admit ponies. So his bigotry was legitimately interfering with his duties. Heck, by all logic he should have gone to jail for that - he's a bureaucrat, not a cop. And with the school operating as non-accredited (the whole idea there being to sidestep EEA rules which forbade the non-traditional teaching methods Twilight wanted to implement), it's questionable whether he had any authority to take over the school to begin with.

The problem there is that nowhere in the episode did they acknowledge that they needed to tone it down at all - Rainbow Dash was presented as being 100% in the wrong for objecting to their grossly overbearing behavior (not just the fact that she bottled up her feelings until she finally blew her stack). Which made it difficult for many fans to allow them the slightest bit of sympathy.

"The Parent Map" had that message with Starlight and Sunburst and their respective parents, suggesting that the writers learned their lesson from "Parental Glideance".

Of course the episode didn't intend to send that message. The problem is that "The Washouts" was the only time in all of MLP canon that there was even the briefest mention of Scootaloo seeking out some meaningful alternative to the Wonderbolts. She was taught that even if she can't fly, she's still special, but the issue of her actually doing something special with her life was abandoned minutes after it was brought up. Combine that with the multiple scenes of her yearning to fly and zero mention of anypony giving her any meaningful help in that department (especially after Rainbow Dash helped Apple Bloom try hang gliding and got her pet tortoise a device for him to fly alongside her), and it makes her situation feel all the more tragic. "Read it and Weep" kind of indirectly touched on that, with it having an unspoken secondary moral of "Don't be ashamed to like the things you like".

Or just rework the episode to keep the lesson on being a team player, but ditch the pro-hazing nonsense. Then there should have been some intelligent discussion of respectable alternatives to the Wonderbolts elsewhere. The ending with the Scootaloo Fan Club felt like it was saying that she shouldn't have to bother doing anything noteworthy with her life, just be praised for whatever ordinary things she's done and be happy with that - rather like all those "inspirational" stories of people with disabilities being held up as heroes just for not killing themselves. Besides, MLP villains have been reformed after attempting to do much much worse than Lightning Dust. That and/or let Scootaloo partake of one of the numerous examples of heavier-than-air flight technology exhibited across the series. If they really wanted to do the "disability representation" thing, it might have been cool to teach kids that there's no shame in getting around on artificial parts (What's not cool is implying that feel-good platitudes are a valid substitute for meaningful solutions).

A couple of episodes had some major missed opportunities in that department: "The Washouts": We had Scootaloo come across a quality alternative to the Wonderbolts, a career opportunity which would make good use of her scooter skills and appeal to her thrill-seeking nature - only to be given the message that this was a BAD thing. Reforming Lightning Dust could have produced a lovely lesson in finding something noteworthy to do with one's life in spite of a disability. "Between Dark and Dawn": In the vacation plot, Celestia and Luna going their seperate ways is treated as a failure in their relationship, when by all logic it was the only solution for both of them to have an enjoyable vacation. A lesson of "Being in a relationship doesn't mean you have to do everything together" would have fit beautifully there, as well as being a nice addition to the kinds of relationship-related morals the show was known for. That was basically the intended moral of "2, 4, 6, Great", though it would have been nice to deliver it in a way that didn't exaggerate Rainbow Dash's negative traits to the point of borderline sociopathy.

Before the movie, none of the tribes knew that the others also lost their magic. Which would mean that the breakup would most likely have had to predate their magic going AWOL. And considering that G4 lore has always promoted a strong connection between "magic" as in "Magic of Friendship" and "magic" as in "magic of magic", it's not unreasonable to assume that may be some connection there.

A Youtuber by the name of Sawtooth Waves has one interesting theory: