Glitterpen

Charming. Well, I guess the line between looking down upon people and just rudely expressing your personal opinion really is that thin. But who am I to judge, eh? Now, I'll be on my merry way. Good day to you, Sir.

I'm not saying there SHOULD be gay romance and I'm definitely not saying that they SHOULD be all over the place (I myself, more often than not don't support gay romance in other fandoms and in MLP I only support 1 same-sex couple, since there are usually more plausible straight pairings, so Celestia kill me, if I tried to make others live up to something I can't live up to myself) - I'm just asking you not to look down upon those who do support same-sex-pairings and not write us all off as not understanding the source material. Please.

Yes, yes, I understand that, but why don't you think it fits? What differences are there between straight and gay romance, that can't be cooperated into this type of story-telling? I'm not trying to force a perspective on you, shipping is obviously all about personal opinion. I just find it a little none-too-love-and-tolerate-y to consider all same-sex-shipping within the fandom "unfitting", instead of merely considering it a different interpretation of the show and another option taken.

*Ahem* Not meaning to intrude here, but I find it slightly offensive that you compare incest and homosexuality. I know I'm jumping to conclusions (you were probably just comparing how Twilight and Spike's relationship-"upgrade" is similar to what's done with the friendships between the mane characters), but the more comments from strictly-straight-shippers I see, the more it seems like same-sex-shipping is frowned upon. Could you please explain what you, personally, find wrong about it? At this point, I can't help but feel curious.

I've never seen it either, since I live in Denmark and the Danish dub is so horrid. On the other hand, I don't think I've got the channel(s) it's on, so it's not like I have the choice.

She was way more interesting than I'd expected. I thought she'd be insecure, hiding an unmellow, slightly disturbed personality - instead I got the opposite feel in this episode. Her booming voice was slightly annoying, but it just made the few quiet lines all the more lovable. I just squee whenever her voice breaks ("HOW ABOUT NOW? ... HOW ABOUT now? ... How about now? ... And how about... *break* now?"). To sum up my opinion: Princess Luna just sky-rocketed from liked-but-ignored to 2nd favorite character (after Applejack). I hope we'll get to see more of her this season!

Rarity and Luna share a voice actress. Luna yelled more than half of her lines in that throat-murderingly loud voice. Script-writers being nice to the actors, perhaps? Love and tolerance can't just be limited to the audience, you gotta practice what you preach. As for in-universe explanations, I figure Big Macintosh is right. An artist like Rarity wouldn't bypass the chance to work with a new genre.

I loved the train scene and the wonderful glittery effect on the photo at the end. I feel the same as Swoop, though, the previous way the song sounded has been carved into my psyche, so it'll take a while before I get used to it. But it's all great.

I'm currently thinking up a series of Mother's Day-fanfics (completely out of season, I know), so I've actually thought a lot about this. Here's the ones I've worked out so far: Twilight Sparkle: An only child, her mother being named Twilight (senior?) and her father Nightlight, as the two resemble ponies by those names from previous generations. Both are astrologers. Applejack: Disappeared father, mother died giving birth to Apple Bloom. Pinkie Pie: As in the show, except her parents have now retired and left the rock-farm to Pinkie's blue-haired sister, in my head called Rockabye. Pinkie's dark-haired sister grew up to be beloved background-pony Octavia. Rainbow Dash: The youngest of 5 foals. Her mother, Sun Shimmer and father, Rainstorm, had a painful divorce, leaving all 5 of the young ones in the care of their father. Their mother is a former model, now fashion photografer and is named after a G3-pony, their father is head of the weather patrol and his name is fanmade. By me, that is. I'm still vague on Rarity and Fluttershy, but I think the former would come from an average family, while the latter is from an upper-class, possibly famous family. Hence their behaviour. Just my thoughts.

Not necessarily. I don't think of Lyra as gentle, she seems very forward in everything she does (waving to someone she should know by now wouldn't wave back, crying as soon as she felt sad, etc.), but I wasn't trying to imply that she's unkind. My idea of her being a tomboy stems from her unkempt mane - she might be into sports, like Rainbow Dash and not bother combing it, since she'll soon be off doing whatever she does again. She's got those funny/strange/human-like poses, that would imply she doesn't care what others think (Bon Bon being, as you said, kind of a b*tch, would have told her it looks odd) and "in the power of her emotions" wasn't ment to imply that she's a hot-head (I can't picture her as one at all), but rather that she acts the way she feels without thinking (such as before-mentioned crying). It's just different ways to interpret the same actions.

I envision Derpy as a shatterbrained girly-girl, with no attention span, but a big heart. Perhaps a bit immature. Just a really fun mare to be around. Lyra I see as a somewhat chaotic pony; an energic tomboy, with no care for others' opinions, but completely in the power of her emotions. Bon Bon I see as her opposite, caring a lot about her own appearance and generally a bit of a valley girl, perhaps with some jerk-tendencies, but genuinely nice if one gets to know her. With Octavia, I completely go with the idea that she's Pinkie Pie's sister, so I think she's trying her best to become a stoic upper-class mare and leave her time on the rock farm behind. I still believe she loves her family very much, she might just think they're in the way of her career. Then there's the almost completely unknown background pony, known as Lotus Blossom (or Frou Frou, depending on who you ask). She's the mare who got her mane ruined by the CMC in "The Show Stoppers" and ran away screaming... in a squeaky voice. I fell in love with her at once and immediately found a personality for her: due to her unusual voice, Lotus has a hard time being taken seriously, so one day when she was a filly, she simply stopped trying. From then on, she just did whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted and used her wits and unique charm to get what she wanted. She makes a living of singing the strangest songs, but for the most part just travels around Equestria, having a blast. For added cool, lotus flowers actually symbolize getting through a rough patch in your life and moving on. Her cutie mark, being one of these, symbolize her ability to make the best of any situation. Haven't really given the other known BG's much thought, but I love all the different fan-interpretions.