Nerfing the Everfree Forest

[ManaMinori 4,146]

Oh boy, where do I even begin? So, over the course of 8 seasons, we've gone from learning that the ponies think the EF is the scariest thing ever- even starting off with RD's claims about "everypony that goes in has never come out" , in episode 2. And of course, understandably, as they explore their world beyond their comfort zone, the forest is going to seem a little less scary (especially since they so kindly seems to have trapped all the creatures that used to inhabit the Everfree in Tartarus, which at one point, was only claimed to have been a prison that was reserved for the most ancient, evil creatures (according to "It's about time")) It's gotten to the point where students from beyond Equestria could prance about through the forest and not bat an eye at what dangers (apparently used) to lurk there. In the MLP IDW comic #71, Twilight even sets up the castle of the Two Sisters as a haunted house for the School 6, as if their lives won't be in the least bit of danger traipsing through the forest to get to the equally dangerous (and still heavily booby-trapped, mind you) castle ruins. But nope! The forest's fear factor has been nerfed to Tartarus. In series canon and comic canon. (though at least the chapter books by G.M. Berrow seem to have the forest remain true to its scary nature, in literature like "Ponyville Mysteries" and "Rainbow Dash and the Daring Do Double Dare".

 

Am I the only one annoyed by this? Should the Everfree have gotten so nerfed?

[Passion 3,484]

Yes, pretty much yes.

 

If you think logically of this, at the beginning you had a bunch of fearful ponies who were afraid of their own shadows. But over time they've faced things like Nightmare Moon, Discrod, Tirek, Chrysalis and others. They've met Zecora, who literally lives there and doesn't seem bothered by it. I'm pretty sure they've heard enough about the forest to look at it from different angle. Then there's the entire Tree of Harmony thing, which probably had a direct connection to the forest itself, and the fact it was corrupted only might have meant that the forest was as well. Ever since its cleansing, it is viable to assume the forest also might have changed for the better.

 

If these all ponies would to remain scared of something so trivial as a forest, I'd dare to question the logic behind their development.

[ManaMinori 4,146]

6 minutes ago, Passion said:

Yes, pretty much yes.

 

If you think logically of this, at the beginning you had a bunch of fearful ponies who were afraid of their own shadows. But over time they've faced things like Nightmare Moon, Discrod, Tirek, Chrysalis and others. They've met Zecora, who literally lives there and doesn't seem bothered by it. I'm pretty sure they've heard enough about the forest to look at it from different angle. Then there's the entire Tree of Harmony thing, which probably had a direct connection to the forest itself, and the fact it was corrupted only might have meant that the forest was as well. Ever since its cleansing, it is viable to assume the forest also might have changed for the better.

 

If these all ponies would to remain scared of something so trivial as a forest, I'd dare to question the logic behind their development.

ok, that's all well and good for the mane 6, but the student 6 have done none of that. The forest should still be really terrifying for them. Manticores, Cockatrices, disease treese, and Luna knows what else. They could've brought that fear factor back with creatures who had never gone through the forest, or faced such big baddies, for the forest to be considered a cakewalk before.

Edited October 3, 2018 by Nightmare Muffin

[Passion 3,484]

Perhaps there's a grain of truth in this. I have not yet entered season 8 so I cannot really tell I guess, but *some* extent should be there. Unless we assume that at least outskirts of the forest and so on have been tamed and made safe in the process of everything that happened.

Other than that, you might be right. However, speculation was never my most beloved topic, therefore I'll leave it to others to decide from here.

[DonMaguz 1,023]

I'm not so annoyed as I am disappointed about the Everfree Forest nerfing.

There is a perfectly understandable process in nerfing its starting reputation, but that reputation was based on the forest being the home for creatures such as manticores, cockatrices, hydras, ursas and the single most deadly disease we've known of in FiM's lore.

Most of those things are still out there, I can understand Zecora and the Mane 6 going in by taking appropriate safety measures, but having it as a tourism attraction or a camping zone is definitely disappointing.

[ggg-2 3,553]

You do have a point about the Forest itself. The Castle of The Two Sisters' traps on the other hand, were never intended to be overly dangerous. Remember, it was basically set up like a funhouse so Celestia and Luna could play together when they were young.

[BornAgainBrony 2,398]

I was always under the impression that the Tree was somehow linked to the forest and things began to change after the Mane 6 discovered its secrets. So it may be tamer now due to actual intervention. The forest surely wasn't even there when Celestia and Luna were using it as a castle, so... something happened.

[Ganondorf8 11,424]

I guess the staff over time felt that the Everfree Forest wasn't going to have as big an impact as it initially did thus facilitating the notion that it slowly became less threatening until it was no longer deemed relevant. Personally, I feel the forest has been discredited as a scary location given that we still don't know everything about it and that there could still be lurking horrors waiting to be unleashed.

[Sepul-Coloratura 762]

A : I think it is because of the tree of harmony, which effected the forest to be more balanced (=pony friendly)

B : Ponies are usually cutesy creatures having lots of fear of what they don't know yet. (like how they thought of Zecora before)

C : They grew skin. There are more frightening and more actual threats they faced before. Also Everfree forest became like their back yard by now. It became so familiar.

I also have a headcanon that lots of deadly creatures and the unfriendly nature of Everfree forest is the consequence of the 1000 years of imbalance due to the absence of princess Luna. And also Luna helps lots of ponies face their fears by consulting them inside their dreams. She couldn't do it when she was at the moon. Celestia could rule where the sun touches and at daytime, but not the unfamiliar realm like the dark side of Equestria and ponies deepest mind.

And my disappointment comes from something bigger which caused Everfree forest being irrelevant. It's that the show less focusing on Ponyville.

Edited October 4, 2018 by Sepul-Coloratura

[RDDash 19,232]

I don't know what to even tell you. I suppose there is nothing left to be nerfed because all of the dangerous things about the forest are gone now and it just became a regular non-threatening type of forest

[Senko 459]

Actually I don't think the forest was ever scary because of its creatures. Dangerous yes manticores, tree's that kill you or play pranks etc, cockatrices are all hazards but so are lion's and tigers and bears and we literally see bears having baths at the vets office. These creatures though aren't limited to just those areas the hydra was at Froggy Bottom Bog and the Chimera was at the fire swamps. In addition to which we do still see the ponies worried when they encounter one of these creatures e.g. the timberwolves when they come out of the forest, the hydra when they run into it at the bog. However that was never what scared them about the Everfree forest. If you watch the earlier episodes when they're talking about it and warning Twilight its not "The Everfree forest is home to manticores and cockatrices and Hufflewumps." rather its "The plants grow and the clouds move all on their own.". The ponies weren't scared of the creatures living in there they were scared of the fact that the forest isn't natural that it lives and grows and changes without them having anything to do with it. In the years since then though while it still does that they've come to accept it perhaps because they've travelled to so many locations outside Equestria which work the same and things happen without the ponies managing it all themselves. Perhaps they've just started to forget about the unnaturalness of the forest in favour of being more concerned about which super powered ancient evil will attack them next. Perhaps they still are uncomfortable with it but no longer find the idea of a plant growing by itself something to be afraid of. More likely its that they've realized while these things do occur on their own it doesn't mean they can't control them like they do elsewhere if they want too.

I don't think its been nerfed though its still a dangerous place to wander freely as we see with things like those hairy critters that attack the student 6 when they go hide out at the twin sisters castle because they specifically state Fluttershy has taught about them in class implying that the ponies are now studying the Everfree forest and learning how to handle what's in there. Another example is the use of poison joke antidote at the spa because its simply luxurious in a bath. However while the dangers are unusual they've never been anything more than you could find elsewhere. Zecora lives in the forest and Steven was quite happy swimming around in there.

Now Tartarus on the other hand has been nerfed which I'm not happy about.

 

 

[heavens-champion 1,905]

Honestly, I'm more disappointed in it suddenly being nameless than it being harmless (pukwugies, anyone? Not sure if I spelled pukwugies right).

[Jeric 46,869]

On 10/3/2018 at 1:30 PM, Nightmare Muffin said:

ok, that's all well and good for the mane 6, but the student 6 have done none of that. The forest should still be really terrifying for them. Manticores, Cockatrices, disease treese, and Luna knows what else. They could've brought that fear factor back with creatures who had never gone through the forest, or faced such big baddies, for the forest to be considered a cakewalk before.

Most of the Student Six have faced their own share of dangers before coming to Ponyville. Everfree would be a cakewalk compared to their natural environments or historical battles. 

[Goat-kun 2,530]

Everfree has been nerfed to Tartarus, and Tartarus has been nerfed to after school detention. I'd love to see it go Darkwood ... within reason, of course. The good old "Old Gods have awakened from their aeons-long slumber" routine is always a tempting path to take. Everfree could easily be the colloquial name of just one such deity whose will resides within the very roots of its tenebrous abode.

 

Ponies are control freaks that shrink from anything that they cannot overpower with words or magic. The embodiment of nature, feral and unyielding, would be as much of a villain to them as any lord of darkness. After all, it seems that nature and Harmony hate each other.

 

No matter what opinion you hold about Everfree, one thing remains the same for all of us: if you want it to grow out of its current state you'll have to fanfic it yourself cause our glorious writers ain't doing shit.

[heavens-champion 1,905]

12 hours ago, Goat-kun said:

No matter what opinion you hold about Everfree, one thing remains the same for all of us: if you want it to grow out of its current state you'll have to fanfic it yourself cause our glorious writers ain't doing shit.

 

They don't sound too glorious when you say it like that.