TailsIsNotAlone

There's our deadline. Contest over. Well, that alt-voting sure is a slap in the face to all the fans who worked so hard to get REAL votes for Lyra and Rarity in previous years. I'm disappointed. This isn't supposed to be that kind of fandom. -_- But it's over and we have a winner: Twilight Sparkle has finally reached the top. Congratulations to her and all her fans.

After reviewing the previous page and seeing that Jeric and Matron cleaned up the poll and removed the bogus votes, I will keep the tournament going as planned. The poll was reopened and we'll stick to our original deadline of 8:00 EST.

Really? Do you know that for sure? Because that would explain why I logged on today to find the poll prematurely closed. I don't have a voter ID option on the poll, but if it is true, I'll have no choice but to declare the contest null and void. I'll be looking into this immediately.

What a race this has been so far! Magic Bowl II was decided by just 8 votes, and this one may come down to an even smaller difference. Remember to play nice everypony--either way, we will have a deserving winner! In that case, we would go into a three-day overtime period. It's never happened before in the playoffs, but this is a very close race...

I don't know, but I can't say it surprises me. When the show gives her such a weak reason to turn evil, brainwash a village, and turn Equestria into multiple dystopias via time travel, of course people are going to be upset. But they shouldn't be upset with Starlight herself. She was an interesting, unique, and effective villain with a world of potential in The Cutie Map, and anyone who says otherwise doesn't understand what makes a great antagonist. They should be upset with the writer/s for failing to develop her beyond a generic "my only friend left me behind, so yeah...authoritarian cult FTW." In this case Josh Haber was responsible, but they shouldn't have let him write it solo either. I could give her far better motivation, off the top of my head, for free. (See here.) The entire plot of the finale was misconceived and unfair to her character from the start. If she could go back in time and do anything she wanted, she would use that ability to make her philosophy succeed--not to get back at Twilight Sparkle.

I work there now, which makes it a lot easier to collect these! They are the best-looking Gen 4 toys I've seen McDonald's carry. So far I have Pinkie, Dash, Twilight, and Coco. Now I just want Rarity and Starlight Glimmer!

Season 1: The Best Night Ever. It was very hard to choose this over Griffon the Brush-Off and Sonic Rainboom, but it had a wonderful lesson that was reached through fine storytelling and brilliant songs. A perfect episode and still my favorite season finale. Season 2: Hurricane Fluttershy. It deeply touched me and helped me understand Fluttershy in a way I never had before. Great premise, great execution, a deeply sad glimpse into Fluttershy's mind, and an inspiring ending where she conquers her fears--one of them, at least. Season 3: Sleepless in Ponyville. There were only a handful of episodes I liked that season, but this is as good as anything they've done. Scootaloo's best episode ever. Her rapport with Rainbow Dash is really heartwarming. Season 4: Pinkie Apple Pie. Pure sweetness that just beats out Leap of Faith. This road trip brings Applejack and Pinkie Pie closer together in a convincing way that is true to both their characters, and I would put "Apples to the Core" in the top five songs of the series. Season 5: NOT HAPPENING. It is seriously not possible for me to choose between The Cutie Map, Bloom and Gloom, and Amending Fences! By themselves, they are worth the cost of the entire DVD set when it comes out.

Starlight. To quote myself from the episode thread: "If Starlight absolutely MUST be reformed, and the only one who can stop her is herself...at least have her do it with style." Instead we just got a quick flashback, a Twilight speech, and an "oh, I guess she's right after all." What happened to that stubborn fanatic I both loved and feared? She was a fascinating villain in the premiere, but I guess lightning didn't strike twice.

Finally, I'm ready to watch this. Can the show recreate the charismatic, complex, and indomitable Starlight Glimmer I disagreed with--but respected--in The Cutie Map? I don't know, and I'm worried about what's supposed to happen with her at the end. (I've heard a few rumors but no major spoilers.) But I'm going in with cautious optimism. The finale doesn't waste any time getting started. Starlight has gone back in time. That's an AWESOME idea. The first issue I have is that Starlight, upon encountering Twi and Spike, acts too much like a generic baddie and not enough like herself. The second issue is what she does with her temporal magic. Hear me out: if you were Starlight and you could go back to any time and place and meddle with history in any way you desired, would you bother messing around with the Mane 6 and the Sonic Rainboom at all? Of course not! You would alter history in a way that would actually make your dream a reality, or at least protects that (shiver) NICE village of yours. What Starlight's doing just isn't right for her character. I know she's supposed to be mean and unwise, but she's also supposed to be principled--at least in her own twisted way. This is just petty. Twilight, with all her alicorn magic, still can't defeat Starlight in a fight; I liked that unexpected wrinkle, and the Nightmare Moon world is a lot of fun too. The ending...well, that's my third issue. Starlight's backstory is interesting but doesn't seem traumatic enough to produce the "Mayor Marx" we know, and her reformation just isn't convincing. No speech by Twilight should be enough to make her turn her back on her radical beliefs. I feel very strongly that if she ever discovers she is wrong, she could only do it on her own and over a period of years. Picture it: she tries to make her vision work over and over in carefully calculated scenarios, and time and again it ends in disaster. If Starlight absolutely MUST be reformed, and the only one who can stop her is herself...at least have her do it with style. It's all very sweet and they made a noble effort, but this wasn't really satisfying for me. It had the potential to be something spectacular, but conceptually, it was just OK. -_- On the bright side, there must be some pretty good AU fics out there...

I kind of DID like that about Twilight, in retrospect. It made her easier to relate to, at least for me, and it was also a reminder that she wasn't perfect. Without that sprinkling of attitude, Spark...well, lost a bit of her spark. She's just too nice (and adjusted to the Princess thing WAY too easily, considering what we knew about her beforehand) to really hold my attention like she once did. She's still awesome and I don't think she's a Mary Sue. But I understand where some people are coming from when they make that argument.

Griffon the Brush-Off, The Best Night Ever, Hurricane Fluttershy, Bloom and Gloom, and Amending Fences. I can't really choose between those five.

PinkieDash: The OTP! The first pairing that ever occurred to me when I started watching the show. They're just so awesome together. TwiPie and RariJack are cool too. All very funny pairings when done right.

You think the site as a whole is burned out on pony polls? Maybe that's true. The MAPT itself was mostly positive and done just for fun. But I have heard of other polls that got kind of nasty.