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I've gotten used to the new form by now. No complaints.

Well, wasn't that interesting? She almost seemed possessed! Almost. Wouldn't that have been fun? Maybe they could've boosted up the spook factor in the episode but that's just me. They certainly could have taken this concept a lot farther than they did but creeping out the viewers is certainly not the intent of this episode. The most creepy part had to have been where Rarity was Terminating the personas, appearing as though Fluttershy could teleport back to where the previous persona stood before they trotted out. Also couldn't help but gush a little from Fluttershy being so naturally cute in the beginning when she and Rarity were cuddling up a little. Then again, it just wouldn't be Fluttershy if she wasn't so naturally adorable.

This episode could've used more meat as it was very bare-bones in what it tried to do. In a nutshell, Maud has a coltfriend boyfriend who is Maud's equivalent to Pinkie Pie's Cheese Sandwich. Pinkie Pie doesn't like Mudbriar or the whole arrangement because she's afraid he'll hog all the attention away from her. The conflict is resolved when Pinkie Pie reconciles with Mudbriar and accept the new state of affairs. They did a pretty good job with making sure Mudbriar got on Pinkie Pie's nerves -- too good a job, in fact -- to the point he became rather unlikable. From what I remember about the first Maud Pie episode, she came across as pretty unfathomable but this guy comes across as having contempt for people who don't share his thought patterns. He has his own way of making sense of the world and you are going to hear about it whether you like it or not. The reason why Maud Pie is bearable is because her quirks add to the conversation while Mudbriar's quirks subtract from the conversation and replaces it with his own ideas -- that's just pretentious. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought his interjections of "technically" came across like nails scraping a chalkboard. IMO, I think the whole personality friction between Pinkie and Mudbriar was unnecessary. Mudbriar's own character isn't the real source of the conflict but the very fact that he's Maud's boyfriend. I'm certain enough that things would have been problematic for Pinkie Pie had Maud's boyfriend turned out to be someone Pinkie already got along with -- maybe Cheese Sandwich? Just an example. My favorite scene had to have been the Rock Farm scene with Limestone and Marble Pie. They should get their own episode.

Something always struck me as off with the whole EEA thing. I get the impression that Twilight's idea wasn't communicated clearly enough. Let's look at Twilight's and Neighsay's exchange in that room that looked a little too dark for reading to be practical (seriously...). Twilight: If we want to keep our land safe and create a friendlier tomorrow, we need to teach the magic of friendship far and wide. Neighsay: A school for ponies to learn how to defend themselves? Twilight: Uh, more like respecting differences and communicating. Neighsay: The EEA concurs. Everypony should be prepared to defend our way of life. So, if your work is in order... Hm... It's not just me who thinks that Twilight and Neighsay weren't on the same page at the outset? It seemed as though both had something else in mind after the session concluded. Another obvious thing is that Neighsay seems to have been in the dark about the school bringing in students from outside of Equestria as well. As for the the school itself, I really have to piece together what it's all about because it's really not obvious (even though it proclaims itself to be). It looks like this School of Friendship was supposed to be any other school with species other than ponies in it. I don't know, it just comes across as not very clearly thought-out and having gone into pitfalls that could have been avoided from the outset. As much as I'd like to have a look at the curriculum she wrote to the EEA so that I can have a better look at what Twilight's thought processes were, the nitty-gritty aspects of her plan just weren't relevant to the plot. Her plan gets preemptively approved, it fails final approval, she writes her own rules, Neighsay finds himself without recourse and everything works out. Sigh... This really could have been executed a lot better. I've worked with norms before. In my case, it's norms about electrical installations. Norms are all about what is established and what is known. At least as far as I can tell, it all boils down to not having to re-invent the wheel with every new project and to hold people accountable should something go awry. Another thing that bothered me a little was Neighsay's over-acting. Was this his first day on the job? You'd think this sort of thing would get very mundane very quickly.

Then you would do well to seclude yourself into quiet niches such as this, picking out just the tiniest minority of people who can be bothered to think things through.

But no less true Come, my dear, surely you've been paying attention to the nature of political discourse as of late. The disease hasn't spared this little community either -- it's the reason why the Debate Pit has earned its infamy. More and more, politics brings out the worst in us. In all my years looking over political discussion, I always find this common thread: political factions that are diametrically opposed to one another in ideology hate each other and I've only seen this get worse. Whether it's conservatives vs liberals, communists vs fascists, etc. These opposing factions want nothing more than to put their opponents down at any and all costs. A game is all it is anymore. This is something you'll eventually open up your eyes to. Question is, how will you cope when you can ignore it no longer?

7.5/10 -- pretty nice https://nachtsang.bandcamp.com/track/this-land-cries

Funny. You want people to be thinking in a nuanced fashion and consider a wider range of possibilities? People are more often than not intellectually lazy ideologues who want nothing more than praise from their in-group authority figures or to advance their own position within said in-group. Nuanced thinking is simply asking too much of people. I'm only expecting to see the West -- particularly the USA -- become ever-more divided as time goes on. I'm rather excited about these divisions coming to a head down the line and I'm hoping it'll be violent. They've had their chance to stop and reflect on what is going on but at every turn, they choose to continue the division. They'll get exactly what they deserve.

As tempted as I am to ask why, I can only see season 8 spoilers as the logical answer to this. The last time a season premiere antagonist ran off after being cornered, she came back in the season finale. Hrm. We'll just have to wait and see. I have my suspicions as to what this might be about. If I'm right then that means the writers are taking greater risks this time. This season could use some risky ideas after the underwhelming but still interesting season 7.

Auf wiedersehen :3 Hopefully you'll come back a more composed guy, m'kay? --- Honestly, I think Neighsay is just some stick in the mud who we probably won't be seeing again. If he's so worried about Equestria's safety then maybe he should just let the princesses do their actual jobs. It's not like Celestia has centuries of experience or anything. Diplomacy was moving along nicely until he ran that mouth of his. If there's anything he proved to everyone, it's that he is one terrible diplomat. He should stick with being the bureaucrat he is (who apparently likes working in the dark for some reason) and keep his nose out of international affairs is what I'm saying. Seriously, for someone so seemingly obsessed with protocol and norms, he went very far out of bounds there. Plot contrivance, I guess.

To anyone wondering.

Don't listen to them, they're full of it, just enjoy the show, end of story.

Both anxious and excited.

7/10 - 's alright. https://starsaslights.bandcamp.com/track/guided-through-flames

I'm sure this indicates that you understood me to a tee and will not in any way be arguing against conjectures I never made. How adorable, you're assuming this is about forced acceptance or something. It's fine if her subjects don't trust other races but let me tell you about something that's very important to consider: it's called context. There's no problem with what Neighsayer said. The problem lies with when he said it, where he said it. Had it been just him and Twilight, it would have been inconsequential. There's an important word right there! That right there makes all the difference. It was a diplomatic event with the leaders closeby. It was even spelled out in the episode that it became an international incident. Starting to get an idea of what the stakes are here? It's about averting geopolitical catastrophe. Heck, Equestria could have gone to war! That'd be excessive don't you think? How inconvenient for you. A suspension could probably suffice. It just has to be enough to show disapproval to the leaders of these other tribes. The heck are you on about? This is about damage control and for preserving the more stable status quo. That's not what it's about. I'm going to assume you understand by now that this has nothing to do with forced acceptance and everything to do with this being an international incident. This is about geopolitics. Tell me, what would be easier for Princess Celestia to explain to her subjects? "I bear with me dire news. Because of an international incident, dragons, changelings and now yaks, griffons, hippogriffs have become hostile to Equestria and we could be at the brink of war." When asked how this happend, he responds: "Well... somepony insulted the leaders of these tribes." Or... Princess Celestia is asked about why disciplinary action had to be taken against Neighsayer. "He insulted the leaders and representatives of the dragon, changeling, yak, hippogriff and griffon tribes right to their faces. The damage is done but it could be worse." I wouldn't think ponies would want to escalate tensions with possibly disastrous consequences just because some idiot ran his mouth at an inopportune moment. The question of the ponies' perception of these other races are a separate matter. Managing discontent is much easier to do when it's inside the borders rather than outside. If the leaders are on good footing, Celestia can just tell them the populace is still distrustful of outsiders and that any attempt at closer ties must be halted until tensions are settled. Good luck talking things through -- you know, what diplomacy is all about -- when these leaders don't want to hear it. Sure, it would slow things down and make communication with these representatives more awkward than it would be but it could have been a lot worse. Is that not what a responsible leader is supposed to do? Is it unfortunate that disciplinary action had to be taken against Neighsayer? Yes. It all comes down to picking your poison.

Your point being...? I think I know what it is but I'm expecting a very feeble argument.

Could you have picked a lamer excuse? Dumb luck does not excuse foregoing nipping a potential catastrophe in the bud. Don't you understand something this basic? I'm pretty sure a ruler's responsibility towards maintaining national security and good international relations far supercedes that of some domestic regulatory commission. It's not like lives are at stake with the former or anything... But yeah, perhaps a large war could have broken out, cost many lives, destroy many living areas, crippling national economies for decades to come with people having to suffer through PTSD from going through war and affecting the psychological development of offspring for many generations to come... but at least this one scrub had the freedom to do say something, even in diplomatic settings where you normally send ambassadors who are conscious the responsibility of communicating with foreign leaders.

Heh. Ha ha hah! OK, so that's the game you want to play, eh? Breaking diplomatic ties with foreign nations and endangering national security security for a blatant misinterpretation of "freedom of speech." You'd give Discord a run for his money!

School Daze was quite an apt title choice @~@ I'm most confounded with how Neighsay wasn't immediately disciplined and reprimanded for harming international relations for his brazen remarks about "dangerous creatures" right in front of the rulers of said creatures! That in itself had to warrant immediate consequences. I really can't believe that was allowed to fly.

The most recent idea to have crossed my mind is to have Queen Chrysalis cross paths with King Sombra -- or at least his ghost. He could only take on his "smoke" form for the time being and has more limitations on being able to interact in the world. Queen Chrysalis wants greater power now that she is without an army. King Sombra offers her power if she would allow him to possess her body. However, before this could happen, Simbra tells her that there is much greater darkness inside of her that must first be unlocked -- to which she must commit. This possession isn't your typical demon possession for she will still be conscious. The catch is that Chrysalis will also inherit all of King Sombra's memories once the possession takes place and there's no going back after it is done. Finally, King Sombra possesses Chrysalis. Right then and there, all of King Sombra's memories and experiences is forced on her consciousness. It's too much to take in all at once but she holds together -- which she may not had she not unlocked her own darkness first. Over time, she assimilates his memories and in doing so, finds a new sense of conviction and with it, she becomes far more ruthless than before. Her new found composure chills all who behold it and she seems more conscious and aware than she was before. This merger of consciousness has very visibly changed her. She might look back at herself and see how juvenile she acted before. Not anymore though. This new Chrysalis will make the old Chrysalis look like a spoiled princess by comparison. With Sombra's possession comes greater power. She now has the capability of using dark at least as well as King Sombra did and she gets to add some twists of her own. She is able to summon armor at will (with colors to suit her), she acquires the "dark magic eyes," her body becomes a little more bulky... (still a WIP) Overall, she's at the pinnacle of her game -- and at her most terrifying. Since this is FiM, guess that needs to be looked at as well. Basically, she believes that friendship is a farce and nothing more than a coping mechanism for one's helplessness in the world. This is something that can only be understood once you've reached a point of absolute dominance like she has -- or so she thinks, at least.

Because why not put this here?

You're setting yourself up for disappointment, kiddo. "Right wing snowflakes" are a thing. It's actually been a thing already (albeit not under that name) with the religious right before anyone had heard the term "SJW." The religious right would get in a tizzy over any silly little thing because they were "affronts" to Christianity. I kinda miss those days, to be honest. Moral of the story is that the right is not immune to this sort of stupidity and their foolishness will be laid bare for all to see as the far left fades into irrelevancy and as the far right becomes more arrogant over time. Can you really blame them for getting more arrogant as the far left sets the bar ever lower? The pendulum has swung before. It will swing again.

We've seen this all before. Far left governments overreach over something stupid, backlash ensues, the far left loses another bite of what remains of their credibility. A recurring pattern here is that the harder they try to push their agenda, the more support they ultimately lose. Even now I can't help but think that things are starting to calm down a bit. We might have already hit Peak SJW and it's only downhill from here. There will be peaks and valleys along the way but the overall trend will be down. The correction is happening. Quite honestly: good riddance. They've been nothing but a venomous thorn on the side Soc Dems like myself. I'm only surprised it's happening this fast. People are standing up and making their voices heard. This shit just isn't going to fly.