Casey Pones

I've heard that tv shows these days get cancelled on a whim because executives have too much power.

Or because it's a way to avoid certain taxes.

Well today I was walking through a big bus terminal, a lady asked which one went to the airport. 

I didn't know but I pointed out the information centre to her.

I think it was a little after the first Equestria Girls film came out.

I had been vaguely aware of the show but dismissed it as for girls. Then I saw this MLP pokemon parody video on YouTube which led me to the barn raising song and I found myself drawn in. It wasn't long after that I started binge-watching the entire series.

I live in Liverpool, UK. People from here are called "Scousers," "The Scouse" or "Liverpudlians."

Originally I was born and raised in a part of the UK called Wales, specifically north Wales. I don't know if that part has a regional term, except for the Welsh.

I do know people from some other parts of the country are called Jordie's or Cockneys.

I don't really want to answer the OP's question. But I would like to share some interesting thoughts someone else has made on this topic.

The YouTube channel Tale Foundry analyses stories along with common/interesting ideas that come up in stories. In this video they analyse a common idea that crops up in our era's stories and seems to be held by many people... that immortality would be a curse. But they put forward an interesting opinion about why that is.

Is it that immortality is horrible? Or is it just sour grapes?

Right now, I'm replying to a thread on an MLP forum.

Well there a few in my neighbourhood who know me, albeit casually. I often go on walks around my neighbourhood and some people have seen me enough times to recognise me and I stop and talk for a while. They seem very friendly and nice.

But the people who live on either side of me are another story.

As soon as since the lady next door moved in she started making these unreasonable requests and blaming me and my house every time something goes wrong at her house. She calls me a terrible neighbour. What's more her sister and brother-in-law live directly opposite me and always back her up.

Imagine the Hoofeilds and McColts but one family lives on both sides of the other.

I'm a night owl and a sleep later then most, so for me mealtimes are something like this...

Breakfast 10 or11am

Lunch 4 or 5 pm

Dinner 10pm

Sound weird but at least I can avoid the mealtime rushes when eating out.

When I was a child, there was this café inside a shopping centre my family went to often.

They had milkshakes so thick you could stand your straw straight up in them and it wouldn't fall over.

But every time I when there I had a slice of this apple tart they had. And one time I sat down and the waiter just plonked a slice down in front of me without even asking.

A while ago I posted on this website asking if I had missed the fandom. IE, now that the major hit that was G4 was over, was I too late to start interacting with fans, posting on sites like this and going to conventions? Would it all start fading away now?

One pony said yes, siting that a major MLP convention in America had stopped running. Well if any of you feel the same way, it might not be that hopeless. I can't speak for the state of the fandom in America, but surprisingly, in my country of Great Britain, the fandom seems alive and well.

I've just been to the annual MLP convention "Griffish Isles" held at the Pendulum Hotel in Manchester. And apparently this year's has been their biggest convention yet!

They had a cosplay contest, the winner was a lady dressed as King Sombra. A vendor hall, trivia quiz, a Q&A with the voice actor who played Gilda the Griffin, a games room, charity auction, live music and an all-day karaoke room loaded with every MLP song AND fan-songs.

What's more there's more MLP conventions taking place in Great Britain in the next 2 years. If I'm reading things right, we might have 4 conventions a year!

So I post this, not just to share some memories, but to assure you (if you had any doubt to begin with) that the fandom is not over and neither are the conventions! I have the pictures I took below and right at the bottom there's a copy of the conbook.

For reasons I won't go into, there has been a record number of Americans applying for British citizenship. I guess for you, this could be another reason.

The MC for the cosplay contest in his Pinky Pie outfit

A cosplayer dressed as Stallion-in-chief Sprout.

A cosplayer dressed as "Sea pony King Triton." This year was an underwater theme.

A cosplayer dressed as Plankton from Spongebob singing the "FUN Song."

A cosplayer as EG Rainbow Dash.

A cosplayer as seapony Fluttershy.

A full fursuit Discord.

Me enjoying a "Sonata Dusk."

The VA for Gilda the Griffin doing a Q&A.

The vendor hall.

A spontaneously set up display of plushies.

At one point they accidentally put up the "Opening Ceremony" slides and everypony cheered. Then they went through them to find the "Closing Ceremony" and everypony went "Awww!" and one pony said "My life flashed before my eyes!"

The winner of the art contest was a lady who did this aquatic version of the convention's mascot, Bobby the Griffin.

They had a contest for the best photo taken at the convention. The winner was this display of plushies set up at the live music event.

The pendulum of the Pendulum Hotel.

Here is a copy of the conbook for you to get a better feeling of what went on there.

conbook.pdf

On 2025-04-10 at 1:58 AM, YGSilverstream said:

Many ideas they had were honestly great and the new main cast were likable, but the haphazard connections to G4 just completely invalidate most of them.

Exactly what I think!

On 2025-02-28 at 9:00 PM, Smart Heart said:

And now they’ve pulled the plug on G5 just as it was getting good.

I would have liked to have seen where the alicorn land story was going.

On 2025-01-22 at 3:57 PM, Dawnshine Wonder said:

If it were up to me? introduce more villains, and emphasize the fact that some villains are beyond reform as they are too stubborn, are we really expected to believe characters like this don't exist in Equestria? the problem is sometimes the show sugarcoats the harsh reality of conflict, and so there wasn't enough adventure/action going on, I already know someone who I won't name publicly who was put off of My Little Pony FIM precisely because of this. Why have Tartarus if all villains were capable of reform? why have punishment as a deterrent at all? Hasbro were wishy-washy about this. Equestria is not a utopia, but it was often depicted as being such, which I find to be a problem, because it's an unrealistic way to tell a story, even in the context of magical or whimsical. At least the comics from what I learned about them, explored Queen Chrysalis cruelty in more depth, in the later seasons of the show, the only reason she was a significant threat at all is because of Discord's antics assisting her, a queen of Changelings shouldn't need the aid of a rogue to be a problem for Equestria, her leadership and her Changeling horde should be enough for this, the moment a villain needs the help from an outsider, is where it comes off as broken, Mean Six betraying her did not help this either, is she supposed to be a villain or comic relief? sometimes she comes off as ineffective as a threat as Team Rocket from Pokemon, where Jesse and James are too dependent on Giovanni to get anything done.

I get what you're saying but I think MLP already has a good balance of redeemable and irredeemable villains.

On one side you have Nightmare Moon, Discord and the Pony of Shadows. On the other you have Lord Tirek, Cosy Glow and Queen Chrysalis.

I was the Hearth's Warming helper for TheRockARooster. Lucky for both of us I found a quote about friendship and food.

Thank you hoovever made mine. I've never received a badge before on this site, does anyone know if you can get a closer look at it?

I can only speak to my own experiences. I have never found a school, college or university that I truly enjoyed. And I think they and education as a whole let me down and left me feeling bitter.

My whole life I was given the message that education was important, that it would mean the difference between a well-paying, exciting and gratifying job and slaving away for life in a burger bar or as a cleaner. Those two were portrayed as the lowest legal jobs in society. 

Well I did the whole education thing for my whole childhood, got dragged through exams, even put myself though some higher education. But when I applied for jobs... nothing! No one thought I was qualified enough for anything, not even burger bars or cleaning! I applied for both. Now I look back on all those years I slaved away in schools and I think... "What was the point of all that? Where did it get me? I did education and I ended up with less with what I was warned about."

Also, when I moved out I found there were a ton of things I had no idea how to do for myself. If the point of education is to prepare us for life on our own then it failed me. With all the problems I have, what good are things like times tables, playing the recorder, cursive writing or the Tudor monarchs?

And I'm not the only on who thinks so. Although I don't agree with everything the School of Life says, I do agree on their proposition for reforming schools.

And documentarian Keven Perjurer mentioned the problems with education in his video in Kid Cities

Here is a list of things that I think schools should change their curriculum to. I'm not saying general knowledge is a bad thing. In my adulthood like to learn things just to fill in the gaps in my knowledge, especially with history. But these are things I think all schools should include and focus on. In ascending order...

15 How to use a phone
I know teenagers are infamous for doing this in school anyway but still what does the +44 at the beginning of numbers mean and how do you type that into a phone? Do you add it onto the end, do you replace numbers? And what do the various sounds it makes mean? It it busy, was I disconnected, is the number invalid?

14 Human history
I know schools already teach history but I don't remember it being a very complete history or well organised. My brother was taught the Tudors every year for 3 or for years in a row.
Normally when we start a movie or video game we're given a prologue to bring us up to speed and give us the feeling we're acclimated. Not with life.
For so long I thought WW1 and WW2 were the same thing and didn't know what the Soviet Union was. I think history should be taught as a way for us all to understand how our world got to where it is. It should start us off with the stone age and give us an overview of the whole thing up to the present, teachers of each year picking up where our last one left off.

13 How to use public transportation.
Unless you have a car this is essential. And yet I found I had no idea how to read train timetables, figure out which line I wanted or which platform they stopped at. Busses were even harder, at least trains list all the stations on their route and announce the next stops. I was shocked when I found out busses don't do that like they do in movies and tv. I got stranded once in bucketing rain because I got off to early because I thought the bus didn't go near where i wanted. One time I was standing in the snow trying to figure out the sign on the bus stop and didn't see my bus coming so it went right past me. Also it took a few tries to learn it's not enough to stand at a bus stop, you have to flag them down too.

12 How to repair things.
Since we all surrounded with appliances, devices and machines, many of which are responsible for life as we know it, know how to fix them ourselves or at least their minor problems would be useful and save us some money over calling a repair man. My fuse-box has tripped many times but the closed thing to an education I received on that was that scene in the power plant in Jurassic Park.

11 How to clean
At one point I saw some footage of a girl's school where they were supplied with mock apartments and taught how to clean them. I thought it was the most sexist, condescending thing I'd ever seen. But now I think, why don't they tech us this? Cleaning is something everyone who can't afford a staff of servant needs to know. I've been confounded by so many cleaning things... what do all the little symbols on laundry items mean? How often do I change sheets? What kind of cleaning agent do you use on certain stains and moulds? The tumble dryer has a thing called a condenser?

10 How to cook and get our food.
I know this is possibly covered in home economics but none of my schools ever had it.
Since we are what we eat I would consider it very important how to do this so we don't fall in the trap of ordering takeout every night. Because there are so many things that can can happen with sharp utensils, hot metals, boiling water and risk of food poisoning. Also since we need food to survive we should all know where to get it, which ones are healthy and buy it cheaply. I know to avoid UPFs but I don't know what constitutes one. And do you know how many people mistakenly think GMOs are bad for you?
And close on the heels of this...

9 How to take care of our health.
This is a more intimate and vital issue then maintaining our devices. How much exercise we need, what kind and how do to it. The whole workings of our bodies and how to care for them. What kind of nutrition and how much of it. What our risks of infection are, where they come from, what they do to us and how to prevent them. Upon being given our body we are left with no care or instruction manual. And I would put our mental health inhere. Things happen in life, and it can be hard to know when you need mental support let alone what kind or where to get it.

8 History of racism.
No I am NOT advocating for any kind of racist ideology to be taught in school. But what I think needs to be taught is which races have suffered discrimination, what those wrong racist beliefs were and what is found offensive. Otherwise it could lead to all sorts of unwittingly hateful moments.
When I was young I had one of those electric cars you could ride in. One day I wanted to dress it up as a police car. I made a sign to go on the side with a star but those are tricky to draw so 2 triangles on top of each other. so there I was trundling through the neighbourhood in a toy car with something like the star of David under the word POLICE. Fortunately I got away with it.
You know that bit in Family guy where Stewie's talking about dogs in a dumpster and Brian says ""Don't joke about it, that's like the holocaust for us!" That was the first time I'd ever heard that word.

7 How to socialize.
I know it's said that school is where children develop their social skills but not always. Some of us don't just pick it up. We're not alone because we choose to be. It's because we have no idea how to strike up a conversation with someone we don't already know or what the boundaries are. And it's not just for companionship, humans are social creatures, deprived of human contact we literally go insane. This could be a matter of mental health. The world needs a real School of Friendship.

6 Safety signs.
I took a course in this as an adult. I couldn't believe I had gone this far in life not knowing that safety, warning and hazard signs were all strictly designed around universal rules and colour  coded. I always thought the green thing that looked like a fire alarm was a fire alarm with a different choice in colour.

5 What your country is and it's values.
I don't mean in a propaganda sense like Soviet Russia. But since we live in this country, shouldn't we know what kind of country is in terms of government, electoral system and what values it has? I imagine it's easy for Americans, they love to crow about it every 4th of July. But it's not so for countries that didn't have a crystallizing moment in their culture to mark. I'm British and for all my childhood I thought the Queen ruled the country just like the monarchs in the Disney movies I saw. And no one told me the value of democracy, civil government, the rule of law or trail by jury. I picked those up from episodes of the Simpsons, and that was just pure luck!

4 What the laws of your country are and what to do if you're in legal trouble.
When you sit down to play a board game, you're explained the rules and what you're not allowed to do. You'll think the law you actually live under would be the same. Especially since you could get into real trouble without even knowing it. One time someone said they were going to sue me for slander based on the thing's I'd been saying about them. I had no idea how to handled this unfamiliar situation, how to get a lawyer, if that's what they're even called in this country. Also could I be sue for slander when I had in fact been telling people the truth? One time my neighbour handed my a document threatening to take me to court over the tree branches hanging from my garden. I didn't even know I could be held legally accountable for that.

3 How to think for ourselves
Time was I sort of thought that out there was some kind of council of scientists, probably working under the UN, who divined through science what was and wasn't true and then those facts were put into all the school textbooks. I think I was shocked when I learned that scientists could differ on opinions and scientific "facts" could be overturned.
Until 2 or 3 years ago I had gone my whole life thinking critical thinking skills meant vital skills for thinking. I had no idea they were about questioning things.

2 How to get a job and manage money.
When you think about it, the whole point of education is to get a good job.
And yet we are told nothing in all our education of how to find work. What a CV is, how to format one, write a cover letter, interview skills, how to find a position.
As such I've been stumbling down numerous avenues of employment and finding nothing but dead ends.

1 How to deal with life.
This is what should be taught in school above everything else.
Life is full of labyrinthine corridors fraught with uncertainty, pitfalls, heartbreaks, disaster, failures and things that can make us want to give up on life altogether. And yet we have been given no education to deal with all this. We all have been thrown into the pool of life and expected to sink or swim.
If we are here in life, if it is the purpose of education to prepare us for life, then it should be their #1 priority to teach us how to handle life. To understand ourselves and what we really need, to deal with what the next catastrophic event might be and to find our way through the murky, messy, at times deeply depressing thing called life we've found ourselves in.

On 2025-01-07 at 1:35 AM, Slumberlumber said:

I don't know! Haven't seen all of it, but maybe add more LGBTQ content? Tackle more of the change in ideas of masculinity and femininity? Last part might be more of an obsession of mine. The differcne between one and the other, and how they can both exist in one person is an obsession of mine. Traits of being a gemini I suppose.

There is a little bit of the masculine vs feminine where Spike thinks he's a bit of a sissy as he wears a pink apron and lives with ponies. Then he goes to visit the dragon lands for the first time and realizes he's fine how he is. Ponies vs dragons could be viewed as a metaphor for feminine vs masculine and feeling pressured to conform to traditional gender roles.

And there is a little LGBTQ content, in the last season...

Still it's pretty toothless stuff that's easy to miss. You'd think a show like this would take a definite stand on the issue.

If today, I were put in charge of a revived MLP FIM I would do this...

First I would declare G5 non-cannon.

I don't know if you've seen my other posts on the subject but I wrote an essay on why I think Make your Mark is terrible, how it made a mess of cannon lore. I think the only way to fix it is to wipe it out. So sorry if this would upset you G5 fans but it's non-cannon.

Second, I would start off the revived G4 from where it left off, not in the future where Twilight is a full grown alicorn, I mean just after she is crowned. I haven't read the season 10 comic yet so I don't know if it's covered these ideas already. I think it's sad that (as implied at least) Twilight and her friends only see each other once a month. But I know the last episode was a lesson about friends who move away and I don't want to tamper with cannon. So I'd have Twilight ruling in Canterlot and meeting her friends in council every month but also some contact with at least some of them in between. 

Third I would also bring back Equestria Girls as a full TV series to run parallel with the revived FIM.

Forth, above all else, I would establish an open relationship between the two worlds.

If like me, you've seen a lot of movies and tv, you'll have noticed that it's as if there's a universal law that magic must be kept secret. From isolated events like in the Pagemaster, Jumanji or most horror movies where the characters have a supernatural encounter and then never speak of it again. Or entire hidden magical societies like in Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Jake Long or Fairly Odd Parents. And I for one am sick of it. I think the human world learning that magic is real would be a story with a lot of potential. For better or worse it would be the greatest shift in human culture and understanding of reality. Bigger even then first contact with aliens, because at least aliens exist in the realm of science.

The new series would open with an arc where the Equestria Girls are given a box like the Mane 6 got. They also learn that their pendants were sent to them by the Tree of Harmony, chosen to protect their world from Equestrian threats leaking into it. (Which I though was where the series was heading be fore they just seemed to forget about it.) At the season finale, some event happens to reveal Equestria to the rest of the human world. The girls eventually open the box and it becomes a castle for Sunset Shimmer containing a portal to Equestria. Sunset becomes an alicorn and is crowned a princess, who's role is to protect each world from the other while maintaining peace. She appoints the rest of the girls as official guardians, the 7 of them work to defend both worlds from threats from the other and are even worked into the local law enforcement. The human world learns of the existance of magic and Equestria. Sunset's castle becomes a kind of consulate for each world as well as an official portal where people from each world can visit the other.

Fifth, I would bring back Luna and Celestia in some capacity.

Maybe living their lives as ordinary citizens (maybe Celestia becomes a professional stage director?) or possibly having them re-crowned to help lead Equestria again. And I know The Last Problem was about accepting change and this could be viewed as back-pedalling. But I wouldn't want them just living in that retirement home forever.

(Possibly) Sixth, I would make the rest of the Mane 6 alicorns. 

I know the last episode showed them as ordinary ponies in the cannon future but I have an idea to change that. Some villain travels back in time to do something evil during twilight's reign as leader. Followed close behind by the older Mane 6. A battle ensues and the rest of the Mane six become Alicorns. Everyone is baffled how this could happen until they work out that the villain's interference in the timeline caused this alteration to it. The current version of the future 6 disappear as their history is altered (much like Biff in Back to the Future part II) saying they can't wait to see how their history will be improved now that they will be alicorns.

The rest of the Mane 6 are crowned and Twilight reorganises Equestria's leadership again, forming a royal council of the princesses Pinky, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Cadence, Luna, Celestia and Sunset Shimmer to rule Equestria with Twilight as queen.

Also the Equestria Girls become alicorns too, although admittedly it's never been established just quite how the relationship between the human and Equestrian forms work.

Personally I think the whole mane 6 should have become alicorns in the Ending of the End part 2. 

As for general episode topics and season story arcs... I would cover lose ends left by the series like what happened to Scorpan? How did the statue outside Canterlot High become a portal? What about the portal they found on that island? Did pony kind have contact with humans before? Is that why so many creatures and places from their world feature in human mythology? Where has Sunset Shimmer been living in the human world this whole time?

I would also cover the origin of the princesses Luna and Celestia, feature more of the other species like the Kirin, add some more male recurring characters. And some new students at the School of Friendship, ones with disabilities that impede social interaction, like Autism. These episodes would not only teach neuro-typical viewers to acknowledge and get along with the neuro-diverse but also help the neuro-diverse to socialise. Something I think such people really need and FIM was lacking.

I also have several ideas for arcs and episodes but I'd rather save those, in case I decide to write fan-fiction.

Actually come to think of it, maybe I would start from the end of season 8 if possible as I don't like some of the directions taken in season 9.

I found TYT's on-par 2D to be way more palatable than MYM's sub-par 3D.

2 hours ago, Otaku-sempai said:

New Year's might be folded into Hearth's Warming, like Yuletide in the North of Middle-earth celebrates both the winter solstice and the year's end. 

I actually started work on building my on world and I had the idea that their Christmas and New Years could be one four-day holiday.

As I am writing this, it will soon be new years.

As any followers of G4 and G5 will tell you, Equestria has many holidays that are parodies of our own.

Valentine's = Hearts and Hooves Day

Halloween = Nightmare Night

Christmas = Hearth's Warming/Winter Wishday/Wishyhooves/Wishentine's

But despite New Years being celebrated by so many cultures around the world, Equestria doesn't seem to have one for this.

So if you were given the job of coming up for a New Years for Equestria... 

• What would you call it?
• What kind of traditions would it have?
• What kind of celebrations and decorations?

Also... HAPPY NEW YEAR!

As I am writing this it is 1:13Am local time Dec 31st.

How do you like to celebrate New Year's or plan to celebrate it this year? What are some memorable New Years you remember?

Here in Britain we have an annual variety show that marks the occasion called the Hootenanny that many people tune into.

In 2013 I when to a open party at a local hotel with stand up comedians. As I got up to leave I lifted a glass and said "To 2013, may it finally dispel those myths about the end of the world!"

Personally I didn't like that one much which is why I've settled on this annual tradition. I sit at home on New Year's eve and watch Rudolph's Shiny New Year, the only New Year's Movie there is. Then I tune in and wait for the biggest New Year's party in the country... Big Ben striking midnight and the massive fireworks display following.

How about you?

And one more thing... HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I thought... "It's a thread about what you are thinking at this moment."

In the run up to Christmas I hadn't gotten around to buying the ingredients for my Christmas dinner. Then, the day before yesterday, there's a someone at my door. I open it and there's a man with a take-away tubs full of food. I told him I hadn't ordered anything but he said he was from the school across the street and they were giving out free full-Christmas dinners to people in the neighbourhood. I felt underserving as I wasn't homeless, aged or disabled but he insisted. So there it was, my Christmas dinner all taken care of!

Last night, Christmas eve, I was a straggler at a local Christmas carnival. It was full of rides and stalls that were being closed up and out of the blue this young man grabs my attention. He and his friend had been running this gourmet sausage roll and pork pie stand. Since it was the last night they had some left over stock and asked if I would like as many as I wanted fir free! So I took one of each.

As for myself, I recently participated in this site's Secret Santa event (which should really be called Hearth's Warming Helper.) I've been gathering up boxes of items to drop off at some local charity shops. And I've sent gifts to my grandma, parents and (for the first time) my young American niece. Specifically DVDs of some of the fist shows and movies I ever saw, namely...

• Santa Claus the Movie
• Wind in the Willows by Cosgrove Hall (film and series)
• Around the World with Willy Fog.

These made my childhood, inspired me and I've never stopped loving them. I hope they can do the same for my niece. I think they will last longer and do for for her then any toy. Also, these shows and movies have largely been forgotten about and I like to think I'm introducing them to a new generation. Also (except for Santa Claus the Movie) I doubt she would ever see them in America.

I hereby sign up.

Some random facts about me...

1. As a child, I went to the same school as Brendan Fraser. But not at the same time.
2. I am autistic.
3. I was once the subject in a tv documentary.
4. I think the 1997 film Titanic is very overrated but don't think the film Batman & Robin is that horrible.
5. My favourite book is A Christmas Carol and my 2 favourite film adaptations are The Muppets and the Jim Carry ones.
6. As a child I thought sealing wax was wax you used on the ceiling.
7. I still watch the movies and shows I watched as a child.
8. My favourite holiday is Christmas.
9. My favourite Christmas film is Santa Claus the Movie.
10. I like to reuse the leftover milk at the bottom of my cereal bowl in my morning coffee.
11. I have driven a real steam engine.
12. In 2010 I made a short film that won a prize.

I might be interested but 3 questions first.

1. We're supposed to make badges? How? Is there some programme on here for that?
2. You mentioned a charity, are we supposed to donate?
3. Shouldn't this be called Hearth's Warming Helpers?