Archangel

Anybody here watch Stargate SG:1? They had a 200th episode celebration where they had a whole bunch of short skits because there was going to be a movie made about the Stargate program. And so a whole bunch of ideas were tossed around and they had a lot of comedic moments that reflected back on earlier seasons and episodes and poked fun at the show. Like the Star Trek parody! Or the bit with the Invisible Jack O'Neill! Or poking fun at how many TV shows and movies need to be more "edgy" for the teenagers! Man I love Stargate. I would love to see a Stargate reference in the show. That would make my entire life! But yeah, something like the 200th episode of Stargate. That would be fantastic!

No. No I don't. For one thing, they can't even solve all the problems on their world. If they can't handle one entire planet, why give them another? Clearly it would be too much work. Luna has such a masochistic streak that she endangered all of Equestria! Talk about irresponsible. All that would happen, is they would come to Earth, maybe solve a couple issues, they do after all have magic, and then learn the depressing reality that not everyone can be happy with everyone else. And ultimately, there will be war on this planet until the last sentient beings die. Or, worst case scenario, they realize that by coming over to another planet that thinks itself alone and knows not the intentions of inter-dimensional beings that they've caused a whole host of new problems. If not a slew of terrorist activities and wars. Simply by showing their heads. Then they sink into literal and emotional squalor living in the mud until they crawl back to their own kingdoms and stop trying so hard to resist the futility of conflict and Equestria descends into the same madness that our planet is in. See, the only real difference between our world and theirs, is that they actually have magic, and are naive enough to believe that the power of friendship will solve everything.

On one hand I like that Twilight has a castle to reflect her new princess status. Even though it'seems a garish, ugly, mess of a thing. Plus, the holographic map of plot device is rather cool. On the other hand, I have read so much fanfiction and so many seasons with the library that, like many others here in this forum, the library felt like a home to me. Plus, it just feels wrong for Book horse to have a home without a library. I suppose we can make the assumption that she has a library in there somewhere, but we have yet to see it as far as I am aware. Plus I also enjoyed Twilight as caretaker of a public source of knowledge. That just seemed like her right? But as I said earlier, she is a princess so having a castle to rule from feels right. I just wish it wasn't this garish mess of crystal that we got.

First off, I'd like to point out that I made that post in 2012. Four years ago. I must've been barely into my second or third year of high school by that point. A lot has changed since then. Both in my understanding of well-written characters and Mary Sues, as well as in the show itself. I don't think I'd call Cadence a Mary Sue, or Luna for that matter. Was the ending a little Deus Ex Alicorn? Yes, yes it was. But that tends to happen a lot on a show that only has 22 minutes of run-time so I can forgive it that flaw. Honestly the thing that still bugs me about that episode today is how was Cadence able to defeat the Changelings with a big bubble of Love? Y'know, the very thing the Changelings were after in the first place? Shouldn't they have just been able to absorb that as their own power? If any character, Twilight is now probably the one closest to a Mary Sue. I still don't think I'd call her one though. Close, but no cigar. Also, wow, holy thread-necro Batman! Not that I'm really helping by posting here and keeping it alive, but still.

Of course! I still enjoy the show, though I've always been more interested in the fandom side of things. What people have created from this show about colorful ponies is amazing. The artwork, the sculptures, plushies, stories like Fallout: Equestria or Starlight over Detrot: A Noir Tale will hold a place in my heart for a long, long time. It's been years since I've read the Hobbit of the Lord of the Rings, yet I still consider myself a fan. I just finished re-watching Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis after years of never touching it but I never thought that I was somehow no longer a fan of Stargate. The same thing is true of ponies, it is not often I find something I really like and get into. And even if later in life other interests may take priority of ponies (A Stargate reboot perhaps?) I will always consider myself a fan. If only for the years of good memories I got all that time ago. Besides, I've always considered friendship to be a sacred thing. Like how Frodo and Sam were friends. They weren't "friends" as in the knew each other on Facebook and that's it. Like so many people consider friends now a days. They were friends in that they would go to Mordor for each other. That's the kind of friend I want, that's the kind of friend I want to be. And I love that a show that will influence kids treats friendship not as something temporary to be used and tossed after high school or a year or so, but something that should be built to last a lifetime.

Ah, good, I'm safe then. That does answer a few questions I used to have, like why no one ever got the idea to move the sun and deprive Celestia of power over the common pony. Also, for those who are interested, http://smile.amazon.com/My-Little-Pony-Chronicles-Princesses-ebook/dp/B00KVK3WNQ/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1451594709&sr=8-1 I did manage to find the book on Amazon. The e-book is fairly cheap too, I'll probably pick it up myself.

Whoa whoa whoa, wait what? Book? There's a BOOK!?! AND NOBODY TOLD ME!?! *Ahem* Pardon. I had no idea this was the case. I figured magic in Equestria was one of those "you can temporarily drain yourself but if you sit and rest for a while it'll come back" magics. Could you clarify for me if the magic draining is due to them raising the sun or if their magic is permanently drained for everything magical they do? Because if it's the latter I may have to rethink my entire racist belief... Does Pegasi magic count too, would that mean that Pegasi wouldn't be able to fly if they fly too much? Also is this book on Amazon for a half-decent price? I have no interest in the comics and generally regard them as bunk, but books are usually cheaper and better in my opinion. I'll accept a book as canon.

Unpopular opinion time! Earth ponies, are useless. There, I said it. Now here's why I believe that is the case. Earth ponies have been shown to be good at generally two things. Strength related tasks, and farming. Anything else is typically treated as an exception rather than the rule. So strength related tasks can easily be overcome by a unicorn. Twilight's come to life spell on the plow during Winter Wrap Up is a good example. While the plow wasn't really controlled and did more harm then good, with practice and study, I'm sure that unicorns could figure out how to enchant things so that whatever strength used to be needed for a task becomes irrelevant. Plus, unicorns have been shown to typically be the CEOs, the leaders, the thinkers, the inventors. Just look at the Flim Flam brothers. Who really should've won Sweet Apple Acres but that's another topic. If there was something their magic couldn't do they could probably invent a machine to do it for them. So let's look at the big issue here. Farming and producing enough food for all of Equestria. At Equestria's current technological level, yeah, Earth ponies are pretty useful. They are good at growing things. But what about when ponies approach our level of technology? The only farmers now-a-days who are like Applejack's family are either in really poor countries, growing a niche product, or nothing more than a hobbyist. Most farmers are number-crunching Twilight Sparkles, running the math and numbers employing every scientific technique from chemically enhanced soil to genetic alteration to grow more and better food. Drones that spray pesticide on only infected plants, vast watering machinery, tractors and what not. When operating on that big a scale, one does not treat each individual plant or tree with care and love. Because that's not what grows crops. They optimize, and optimize, and optimize. If my use of Twilight Sparkle wasn't obvious, this task is perfect for unicorns. Unicorns seem to be the kind to want to run the numbers and do the math, the science and thinking. The kind that would build a drone in the first place. But even if we don't go into the hypothetically future Equestria, are you really going to sit there and say that unicorns and pegasi wouldn't be able to farm at all leading to the starvation of the pony race? That's ludicrous. If Earth ponies didn't exist, either Unicorns would figure out how to use magic to grow more crops and Pegasi to control the weather with more precision for farming or, worst case scenario, the population of Equestia would simply be less than it is. As ponies wouldn't reproduce if they were having trouble feeding themselves, let alone a kid. Thus, the population wouldn't grow without more food rendering the problem in such a low-tech society rather mute. Besides, y'know what's also really important in farming? Weather and sunlight. Celestia controls the sun, but she didn't always do that. The show tells us that once upon a time it was unicorns who raised and lowered the sun. And that no matter what Earth ponies did, without the sun they couldn't grow crops. Unicorns could control the sun to make crop growing optimal, Earth ponies can't. Not that the sun is even all that needed any more. Helpful and cheap? Absolutely! But we have full-spectrum lighting now, we can grow crops without the sun. It's just much harder. Either way, that all says that in the long run unicorns will be better than earth ponies at strength related tasks, and farming. But there is one other thing I mentioned. Weather. Pegasi are nearly as useless as earth ponies except they have natural weather control abilities and can fly. Except, Starlight Glimmer proved that unicorns can fly well enough for aerial combat too. Without even needing the fragile wings that Rarity did. Though, I'll grant that Starlight is probably more the exception than the rule. Though really, as technology in Equestria grows more and more advanced the only outcome I can see are unicorns becoming more and more dominant and Earth ponies and Pegasi growing more and more useless. Needing to overcome barriers that unicorns don't have. It's possible unicorns could also develop weather control that wouldn't require a pegasus (Fallout Equestria's Single Pegasus Project anyone? That's now being run by everyone's favorite apocalyptic unicorn mare...) TL;DR: There is nothing an Earth Pony, perhaps even Pegasi, can do that a unicorn cannot figure out some way of doing either equivalent or better. While there is plenty that an Earth pony and Pegasus cannot do that a unicorn can. Making unicorns the most valuable and important race. And I can say all this incredibly racist stuff, because my favorite pony is an Earth pony. Though I'm sure she'd appreciated being able to float her cello along with magic rather than carrying it on her back. But whatever. That's how the internet works right? I get a free pass on criticism now right? (I'm kidding.)

I liked Twilight since the first episodes. She reminded me a lot of myself when I went to high school. I had friends before high school but not too many. And when I went to high school suddenly everyone kept talking to me while I was working and trying to make friends all the time! Now I'm in college and I wouldn't trade those friendships for anything. So I know how Twilight feels. Plus, she's nerdy and loves books. So we've got that in common. Octavia is just such a devilishly classy pony, especially the way many fanfics tend to treat her character. She's easily my favorite pony. But Pinkie Pie... Pinkie Pie, for the longest time, I just hated. I couldn't stand her. I wanted her gone because I truly felt that the show would be better of without her. Her kind of humor was the kind that tended to fall flat really easily and get old just as fast. She always felt to me as the one-note joke. She had one purpose, comic relief. That's it. She had nothing else to her character besides being funny which she wasn't always good at. Then the Baby Cakes episode aired. I didn't really want to watch it because I knew going in that it was a Pinkie Pie episode, but I turned on the TV anyway. That was the episode that finally made me like Pinkie Pie. Finally we got to truly see the mare behind the party mask. When Pinkie started crying during that episode, I finally felt something for her. She was a pony too, with hopes and dreams, and ambitions. The episode showed Pinkie Pie hurt and sad not because of what somepony else did to her, but because of what she didn't, or couldn't, do. That spoke a lot to me. That was when Pinkie Pie became more than a one-dimensional character to me. That episode is still one of my favorites. I'm still waiting for the Fluttershy equivalent of that episode. Fluttershy is fun to watch but not really all that interesting. She hasn't demonstrated the character growth that others of the main six (and even those who aren't the main six) have. Sure she's had an episode where she "deals" with her fear and anxiety issues, but those successes never show in any other episode. It's as if they never happened. Plus does she even have any ambitions what-so-ever? I mean, Twilight wanted to become a powerful mage and now that she's an alicorn, she wants to be the best Princess she can be. Rainbow Dash wants to join the wonderbolts, Applejack and Rarity want to expand their businesses, Pinkie Pie wants to spread as much joy and cheer as she can and minor in becoming an excellent chef. Fluttershy wants to waste away in her cottage taking care of just a small, token amount of animals. We can't she be given an ambition like starting up wildlife preserves or zoos for endangered species? Something to give her character a desire to try to achieve. Okay, I'm done ranting now. I promise.

Twilight Sparkle is my favorite of the Mane 6. Mostly because she's very focused on wanting to know the answers to everything like me, and used to consider friendship a road block. For my favorite secondary character, I had to go with Spitfire... Those join the REA posters, yum. And of course, I picked best pony for my favorite background, Octavia. Colgate's also pretty awesome. (Or are we calling her Minuette now?)

Of course, the new spell from the synopsis could be the whole reason she becomes an Alicorn, making the change permanent. The thing that bothers me most about this change is that fics like FoE and other set in the future have all been invalidated. Some of those I really liked. Oh well, if there was anypony I would want to become over powered in the Mane 6, I'd want it to be best Mane 6 pony. Hah! My original post was two characters off from the limit. That was new.