Haven't watched since season 3. What's changed?

[bussta33 3]

I know Twilight's an alicorn, and she's become a princess and got her own castle, but that's really it.  Anything else noteworthy I should know about to catch up a bit?  Thanks all

[Lucky Shot 232]

Everything. The show's no longer quite so good at character interaction, focusing instead on somewhat forced and ham-fisted adventure.

 

Season 5 is about Twilight Sparkle freaking out she's being written out of the show. I'm serious. She got to participate in the (very boring) premiere and since then the Cutie Map doesn't summon her, and she calls this right out and gets depressed she'll never have something important to do. (And Princess Celestia? Who's that? She's not part of this show anymore LOL)

 

The show is likely to be over soon, as many characters are realizing dreams, resolving their stories, and generally maturing.

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

Everything. Everyone died, the world blew up and we now follow the adventures of a monkey tailed boy on a flying cloud. 

 

But really not tons has changed save for the tone is a bit less consistent than it used to be and continuity is becoming more prevalent. Yeah the characters have developed but not to the extent that they are all radically different, I mean it's still overall an episodic Slice-of-Life show.

 

Also the brony shout-outs have vastly increased. Weather you take that as a good thing or a bad thing is up to you.

[Varrack 1,080]

I know Twilight's an alicorn, and she's become a princess and got her own castle, but that's really it.  Anything else noteworthy I should know about to catch up a bit?  Thanks all

The CMC got their marks and Cadance and Shining Armor are having a baby.

[Silver Stream. 708]

Most of the Mane 6 (or more so the Mane 6 who have arcs) are getting closer to reaching their gals though there is a possibility in expanding their goals or opening anther arc for them to complete. It depends on where you stand in thinking the show should end soon, or should be stretched out more. 

 

Season 5 strayed away from the Mane 6 with the exception of some "Cutie Map Booty Call" episodes. There has been more focuses on the background ponies and things have been less dependent on the Mane 6 even on their own episodes. More gags.

 

However, since Season 3, there has been a few dark episodes and more interesting villains or antagonists. And when I say dark...I mean DARK. You'd have to watch a few to see what I mean or simply read up on some discussions. 

 

As for development, there has been some though the characters have no dramatically changed as Sidral Said. The writing within the episodes are 50/50. Some exceed my expectations, while others disappoint but I believe that's something that never changed. One cannot say it's a "fact" about how they feel about writing....everyone's perspectives are different. Some think the writing improved while others believe they went downhill. It's up to you.

 

 

There has been some big events that I'm sure you've heard of through media: particularly something about the CMC and something about Shining Armor and Cadence. (Don't want to ruin the surprise for you, but I'm sure it's already been revealed to you. If it wasn't, then it will be soon by someone else unless you watch the episodes first to avoid the surprise being ruined)

 

 

As for the songs, they are still fairly good. Especially in Season 4..Season 5 does not have many of them unfortunately. Also, Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle hasn't received much screentime in Season 5....I do know they will have their own episode pretty soon. The rest you'll have to witness for yourself 

Edited November 1, 2015 by Princess Sunset

[Firedog 320]

Twilight died in the season 4 ending in a battle against tirek (not really died), but is stuck in the past currently, expecting her to be sent to the future for the season 5 finale. Fluttershy and applejack were injured and have been at the hospital since earler this season 5. Its a boring story arch about them helping other ponies get better in the hospital. The cmc got their cutie marks and have taken more of a roll in the show, being a cmc episode every 1 or 2 episodes now. and rarity and rainbow dash were shipped and got married the last thing people were expecting. But they go on dates and such, they started a business together making the wonderbolts uniforms and such. And pinkie pie plans parties, but now the parties are always rave parties. And thats about it

[Makazi 317]

Twilight's cute little Golden Oak Library got blown up and replaced by the most garish eyesore you will ever have the displeasure of laying your eyes upon.

[Gearbox10mm 794]

Applebloom was killed when Discord attacked Ponyville, causing Applejack to go into an apple induced coma over her grief. Rarity got abducted by a group of Mexican sweat shop workers. Fluttershy killed Rainbow Dash with a chainsaw and was committed into a mental hospital. Pinkie fell into a deep downward spiral of drug and alcohol abuse. Twilight resurrected a giant demon and created a killer robot that destroyed half of Ponyville. She became catatonic with despair. That's about it.      

[[NULL] 906]

A bunch of evil vines attacked the Tree of Harmony, which turns out to be where the Elements of Harmony came from. They put the Elements back into the tree, thus killing the vines. Discord then says that the vines sprouted from seeds he doesn't recall planting in the first place. Suddenly a man who appeared to be in his late 60s showed up and explained "I know who really planted those seeds, and he may be the greatest threat to your existence. I'm talking of course about ManBearPig. He's half man, half bear, and half pig. I'm cereal. I know you're scared, but fear not: I, Al Gore am here to save you! And when I finally defeat ManBearPig, you can finally say: 'Thank you Al Gore! You're super awesome!' Anyways, I'll be off to rid the world of that son of a bitch! Excelsior!"

 

In the Season 4 finale, random citizens were reportedly having their magic stolen by some creature. Twilight was called over by Celestia to discuss the threat, who is suspected to be Tirek, a magic-stealing villain who recently escaped his imprisonment. Al Gore suddenly barged in and said "I'm afraid this is a bigger problem than a simple escaped convict." The room then filled with groans. "This again?" said Cadence. "It's ManBearPig! I told you he was real!" "Thank you Mr. Gore, we'll look into it." Celestia responded. "Please, you're not listening to me, I'm super cereal! ManBearPig is out there and I'm everyone's only hope, but nobody ever listens to me! I'm cereal!" He sobbed, stamping his feet. "He's certainly persistent." Luna said. Twilight replied "Yeah, but I feel kind of bad for him. I don't think he has any friends."

Later in the episode, Ponyville is attacked by a humanoid creature with brown fur on half of it's body. Twilight fought the creature, eventually knocking it into a wall. But then the monster's head supposedly fell off, revealing that it was really Al Gore in disguise. "Don't worry, It's just me. Al Gore." "What do you think you're doing?!" Twilight responded angrily. "I'm spreading ManBearPig awareness. Please take a ManBearPig pamphlet and a bumper sticker. But remember, next time, it could be the real ManBearPig." "Just stay away from us, you got that? I was nice to you because I felt sorry for you for not having any friends! Now I see why you don't have any friends! You're just using ManBearPig to get attention, because you're a loser!" Twilight huffed. "Yeah right, the man who discovered ManBearPig is a loser."

Twilight eventually defeats Tirek, then everyone is happy.

Edited November 2, 2015 by SpaceOnion

[Megas 27,086]

Princess Celestia revealed herself as the Higher Power

Edited November 2, 2015 by ChicksDigGiantRobots

[green 331]

Wait...what's this thread about again?

[Guest]

Okay, so this purple horned horse became like royalty and stuff. Then like after that, there was a lot of people going "OMG STUFF IS HAPPENING" with drama and some friendship crap along with people randomly breaking out into song and shit. A lot of boring stuff happened then some BS with a monkey dude that was like the androids from DBZ who sucked up power for a living. But like, the super powered purple horned princess horse had a meeting with the other super powered horned horses and they like did half a fusion dance and gave her their power. After that, she used like cheat codes or something to destroy the monkey guy. After that a map basically was like "I am Zordon, do as I say". And they were like "Ok". So the map commanded them to go all over the world and do friendship stuff and they listened without question. Fast forward and there was griffons and drama and then a crap ton of pointless crap that was all about shoehorning shit the fans wants into an episode pointlessly, but we quickly returned the plot like it didn't even happen. Oh and some chick that basically was trying to create a pure race of people who were all the same, so Hitler or something I guess?

[Steve Piranha 28,860]

I know Twilight's an alicorn, and she's become a princess and got her own castle, but that's really it.  Anything else noteworthy I should know about to catch up a bit?  Thanks all

U don't mind spoilers then? Well, Aside of many new characters, you missed THREE, human spinoff movies for starters. And while you didn't missed much in terms of changing the status quo in season 4, you weren't so lucky from almost half season 5: Background poneh having their own episode, with three of them showing up next one (Remember that Moon Dancer mentioned in the very first episode? She shows up at last), Rarity has her own boutique in Canterlot, Babsy has her cutie mark, we FINALLY saw the rest of the Pie family, Fluttershy made a friend of her own, making Discord jealous, Cadance IS FREAKING PREGNANT, Magical Mistery Cure: Cutie Mark Crusaders Edition being the biggest one, being a mostly musical, redemption of the most(formerly) hated Diamond Tiara, and a set of three shieldbutts for our favorite fillies 

[NeonCobalt 256]

The biggest things that have changed are: Twilight got a castle, which replaced the Golden Oak Library after it was literally blown up, the castle has a map that calls them to various places thought Equestria to solve friendship problems, and the CMC got their cutie marks. Also, more of a BTS thing then a plot thing, but the writers are acknowledging the fan base a lot more. Whether they are shamelessly pandering or just making friendly nods is up for debate.

[sweetolebob18 724]

Okay, seriously,  In Season 4 (or, What I Did On My Summer Vacation)

*In the pilot, they found out The Elements of Harmony came from the Tree of Harmony & had to be returned lest the tree die.  The TOH has Twilight's Cutie Mark on it & it was hinted there might be more EOH someday

*Dash joined the Wonderbolt's Reserve.  It was learned that she has some kind of learning disability (probably ADD)

*Rarity was revealed to be the manager & one of the singers of The Pony Tones (barbershop quartet group) as is Big Mac.  Fluttershy used a poison joke potion to secretly take Big Mac's place for a while.  Sweetie has some sibling rivalry issues w Rarity, smoothed over w Luna's help.

*Pinkie   BIG season for Pinkie.  In Pinkie's Pride, it was revealed that Dash came to town on her birthday.  Cheese Sandwich (Weird Al)came to town to throw the Birthiversary Party.  Pinkie got into a Goof Off w Cheese Sandwich & some ponies almost got hurt.  P matured some, that day.  P also became convinced she was a member of the Apple family (Pinkie Apple Pie) & they went on a road trip to check family records.  AJ was revealed as a good banjo player.  (Hey, compared to the others, AJ lives a life of quiet sanity) (eat your heart out, Thoreau)

 

And, of course, the Season Finale. (Twilight's Kingdom)  A centaur named Tirek escaped from Tartarus & sucked the magic out of everyone.  Celestia trusted Discord to stop him.  Discord betrayed that trust.  (Thus keeping C's Good Judgement Streak intact). Tirek blew up the library (& a LOT of other stuff.  By acclaim Best MLP Fight Scenes Ever!)  Twilight beat T, got her new Magic Castle, & forgave Discord, thus setting up Season 5

 

Steve Piranha covered Season 5

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

Just search the wiki Or watch the episodes yourself.

[The Derpy Hooves 615]

EPISODE 9 SEASON 5           

finally i got my spot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!         

Edited November 5, 2015 by The Derpy Hooves

[ManyANewDay_36 178]

Well, um, the CMC got their cutie marks *squee*, Rarity got a boutique in Canterlot, Rainbow got into the Wonderbolts reserves.

 

 

I think those are really the biggest things... but you really should watch the show again, if you want to, that is.