S03:E13 - Magical Mystery Cure

[~Chaotic Eddie~ 479]

I'm sorry, guys. I have officially REFUSED to watch this episode after seeing a summary on TV tropes. And I've heard that: 

• Twilight is now TEACHING the Magic of Friendship as opposed to learning it.
• Most of the episode is taken up by songs.
• The other 5 of the mane 6 at one point BOW DOWN to Twilicorn.

If this is true, I actually think the show is going downhill. Hasbro have screwed up the plot. Now that Twi is an alicorn, I'm worried that the plot's going to focus more around her, and the rest of the mane 6 are going to get shoved to the side. I don't want that happen, because I believe there's still a lot of potential for the show, and for development of the 

[Anadu Kune 668]

1- The entirety of Sweet Apple Acres somehow falls into a barren craphole simply because Applejack isn't there to help, which doesn't make much sense, I don't see how her help was what kept the entire farm afloat, I can see it getting more difficult to keep things running, but run down completely? It was never indicated in the show that she was that necessary to the farms survival, and now, suddenly, without her the farm goes to shit.

 

- Big Mac and Applebloom are never shown helping Pinkie Pie, leaving her to do all the farm work by herself even tho she is clearly incapable of the task. This makes no sense for obvious reasons.

 

2- The citizens of ponyville somehow devolved into an angry, hostile mob where nobody gets along, only because Pinkie Pie wasn't there to make them laugh........seriously? I mean, seriously? First off, that just doesn't make any sense, I don't see why an entire city of people need a clown to entertain them so that they aren't wanting to tear eachother's throats out. You may be able to argue that it was due to Rarity making the town's weather constantly awful, but they were shown to still be miserable even after the weather was fixed, as Pinkie was the last to be cured. Also, there's never been any indication that Pinkie has been the sole source of Ponyville's happiness before, this came out of nowhere. Ya, I don't buy it.

 

3- Somehow, Twilight comes to the conclusion that throwing her friend's respective elements on their necks will remind them of their special talents......despite there being no rational explanation for how she came to that conclusion. It was "I'll use my friends love for eachother to get them to help eachother remember their special talents" and then, somehow she came to the conclusion that throwing their respective elements on their necks would remind them of their special talents.........WHAT?

 

And lastly

 

4- Princess Celestia made Twilight an alicorn princess just for what she has accomplished and learned while living in Ponyville. Okay, maybe you could argue that Twilight has shown that she has the good qualities of a leader, but, even then, why did they even need a third princess? It's never explained, Celestia and Luna have never been shown to have any issues running the country on their own, so it makes no sense for them to need another princess. What is the point, what does it accomplish, why? We got this big event happen, without any justification for it to happen. It just does.

 

So here's a slice of Swiss Cheese:

 

 

As you can see, this episode has more holes than this slice of swiss cheese. I rest my case.

1:You really don't see how the farm would most likely fail without her? Other than her who is really capable of all the heavy lifting? Pretty much Big Mac. Apple Bloom while useful cant really do what Apple jack is capable of and Granny smith is to old. Your also missing the entire point. Its the harmony of the Apple family that keeps the farm running. Its not just Applejack they cant do without its all of them. Its the message that permeates through the entire episode. Pinkie is shown doing everything alone as to focus on her character dilemma. This more a problem with pacing there's not enough time to explore the concepts presented.

 

Of course the fast degeneration of the farm is just as much an artistic representation of this and of course is exaggerated. Then again exaggeration is key in animation and the whole series relies upon it. It is unlikely the farm would deteriorated that fast. Then again we are talking about a world in which all weather phenomena along with pretty much everything else are created and guided by magical ponies so...is this really all that unbelievable? 

 

2:You really haven't seen how Pinkie brings about happiness in ponyville? An entire song was dedicated to it. The Smile song in season 2 was used not only to show that spreading happiness was Pinkie's purpose in life but it also showed that yes she did have an effect on all of ponyville. Effectively that song did show that Pinkies presence was largely responsible for preventing depression and negative emotions from creeping into ponyville. You also missed the point. Again the present theme of harmony and friendship is here. Each of the ponies is an Element of Harmony their presence is integral to keeping the harmony ponyville normally enjoys. The purpose here is to show what would happen when that was taken away. The elements of harmony were scrambled. With each respective pony removed from their proper place in the world so too were the effects of the element they represent.  

 

 

3:Once again you have missed the entire point. Twilight realized that only the harmony of friendship could solve this. Only through the direct personal help and guidance of "a true friend" could the problem be fixed. It was Twilight's accumulated knowledge and understanding of the importance of friendship that allowed her to solve the problem . She knew and it had been established that no form magic spell could help the situation. So she used a lesson she learned earlier in the season in Magical Duel. That being the bond of friendship trumps magical prowess and understanding alone. Using that bond and her clever mind to solve the problem rather than a magical device or spell. 

 

4:Well for one thing princesses have never really made sense in this show. It seems blatantly obvious Celestia and Luna are far more than just princesses their very presence brings balance to all life. So if that's really a problem for you its one that permeates the entire show. What it means to be a princess is never explained. However that wasnt the point of the episode. The point of the episode in regards to the princess thing was to show what lead up to the change and then end on it. Considering this is an ongoing series and the main character is now a princess we are probably finally going to get some answers. As Celestia said though that will come later.

 

Also it seems to be indicated that Celestia merely helped the process along. Notice the magic doesn't come from Celestia, it comes out of Twilight herself. That's the point, Twilight reached this point from her own understanding, her own power within, and its that power that allows her to move to this next big stage in her life.

[Chacobos 160]

  

[King Brony 15]

I still do not like that they made her a alicorn. Who thought is was also a little bit rushed? Now that the season is over. I do not know if I can weight to next season.

[An Old Head 4,816]

I realise that I am extremely late to this thread. I've been in Spain without Internet since Friday, so a lot of thoughts on my mind have probably already been discussed here. 35 pages isn't exactly too appealing, so I'll go ahead and assume that a LOT of people are angry at this episode. Some have even left the fandom.

 

I have one word for everyone in this fandom, whether they're upset over Twilicorn or appreciative of it:

 

OPTIMISM!

 

To those who say the show is ruined because of Twilicorn, where is your reasoning? We've seen about three damn minutes of actual Twilicorn in this episode. The role she'll be assuming in Season 4 hasn't even been applied yet. The most important part is that almost nothing has changed. The only differences that are in effect are:

• Twilight has official leadership over the group now (instead of unofficial, tiny difference)
• Twilight has wings (again, tiny difference because her main skills are in magic)
• Twilight is royal (another tiny difference, there isn't anything distinctly different to royalty other than being looked up to, and Twilight is already looked up to).

 

I must be completely alone when I say that Hasbro pitched Twilicorn perfectly in this episode. They gave their target audience the shiny princess palava (spelling?) that they'd love, and to us Bronies - who wanted as little change in Twilight as possible - they've simply given Twilight the tiny differences specified above. People forget that she's still learning lessons from Princess Celestia, and people also forget that she is the primary protagonist of this series. She deserves to be a princess, frankly speaking.

 

Yes, people will be fuming and will automatically disagree. I'm throwing my point out there even if it already is out there. I feel as if people are losing their true Brony self by not taking the life values from the show they love so much - one of them being to look on the bright side!

 

And with the Twilicorn subject out of the way, the rest of the episode was fantastic! I absolutely loved the idea that they applied - trying to fulfil one another's destiny, and the completely loony yet somewhat pitiful antics that follow. Poor Rainbow Dash trying to take care of all these animals. Poor Pinkie Pie trying to work the farm. The concept was spectacular - my only issue is that it didn't have the entire episode to itself. Twilicorn should have had an episode to itself.

 

Plus, six songs in one episode? That's me totally satisfied.

 

Heh. I'm back...

Edited February 18, 2013 by Flipturn

[poniesforfun 716]

I'm sorry, guys. I have officially REFUSED to watch this episode after seeing a summary on TV tropes. And I've heard that: 

• Twilight is now TEACHING the Magic of Friendship as opposed to learning it.
• Most of the episode is taken up by songs.
• The other 5 of the mane 6 at one point BOW DOWN to Twilicorn.

If this is true, I actually think the show is going downhill. Hasbro have screwed up the plot. Now that Twi is an alicorn, I'm worried that the plot's going to focus more around her, and the rest of the mane 6 are going to get shoved to the side. I don't want that happen, because I believe there's still a lot of potential for the show, and for development of the 

 

That's exactly what I fear. There's a big distance between a boss and his co-workers. They can't really be the same friends they used to been. I mean everyone bows down whenever Celestia arrives, Twilight would be getting the same treatment too. I guess she would move on to bigger matters and she would be going to different cities they haven't been to but it won't feel like an adventure anymore. She wouldn't have to win the hearts of anyone using wit and smarts anymore now that everyone knows she's a princess.

 

Twilight becoming a princess should be done in the end of MLP: FiM or when it's near the end.

Edited February 18, 2013 by poniesforfun

[~Vallo~ 409]

 

Who thought is was also a little bit rushed?

It was only part 1 of a 3 parter, so there's more to come. It was confirmed by one of the shows writers in a tweet. I don't have the screencap, but if I did, i'd post it.

[Anadu Kune 668]

I watched the S3 finale with a bunch of friends yesterday and frankly noticed a lot of issues. The S3 finale simply is not believeable and has difficulty following it's own internal logic and canon. It is written in a fashion that simply doesn't respect the audience's intelligence.

 

I rewatched the episode and here are a few glaring problems:

 

Pony naming

 

- Twilight at 00:56 says and refers to Rainbow Dash. We then see Rarity acknowledge that. Even if their cutie marks got swapped why did Rarity recognise her name as Rainbow Dash? OK so now their names got switched?

 

- At 02:29 and 08:40 as Twilight walks to Fluttershy's house, she refers to Rainbow Dash as 'Rainbow Dash'. Now if their names got swapped, how come the Dashie recognised her name?

 

- At 08:25 when Twilight talks to Fluttershy about Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy understood which 'Rainbow Dash' was referred to. Now if their names got swapped around, how is this possible?

 

 

 

Canon and logical continuity

 

- I thought only Pegasus/Pegasi could control the weather? Rarity is a unicorn!

 

- By the way the Apple family don't seem to care or mind that Pinkie got switched by AJ (you'd think that would raise an eyebrow). The same thing happens at 13:17 with Pinkie with the town people. Oh well..

 

- At 13:45, Twilight says that she knows how to fix the spell. This is after all her affected friends already go back to normal? Twilight has fixed the spell on her friends already. What do you fix now?

 

Yeah we know, go to pony heaven and become an alicorn - jeezus that doesn't make any sense.

 

 

Artistic integrity

 

According to an interview with Tara Strong, in Season 4 nothing will really change with Twilight. If that's the case what the point in changing her (other than the merch sales that we all know about)? Obviously corporate mandate just crapped on the show's integrity.

 

http://www.themarysue.com/tara-strong-interview/

 

 

In summary the episode was horribly rushed, and simply couldn't suspend my disbelief. The only saving grace was Daniel Ingram's songs which tried to carry us through on sheer emotion.

 

However I know the difference between being emotionally inspired and being emotionally manipulated (which was the case in the episode). Quite frankly, realising that makes it suck even more.

 

I'll leave it here, if you've read this far thanks.

Pony Naming

Their names were not switched at all. Rarity never acknowledges her name as Rainbow Dash. She only acknowledges and apologizes for her mistake in soaking twilight with rain and expresses her difficulty in her task. Every other example you brought up is consistent with this. 

 

Canon and logical continuity

 

your first two problems are answered by what the spell actually did to them. It switched their places in the world by swapping the magical essences of the elements of harmony, which as has already been established are tied to the ponies and the ponies to them. Nobody in ponyville seemed to notice the change because of this. This is also indicated by the fact that the ponies had no memory of their rightful place in life. The believed they had always been meant to do what they were doing. Stuck constantly failing at their given task and not knowing why. Twilight and spike of course remembered because the only element not effected was Twilight's. She remained in her place in the world and with the memories that place had as did spike some one heavily heavily tied to her everyday life. 

 

She had fixed her friends, restoring them to their rightful place in the world, and by extent restoring the elements of harmony back to normal. She did not however fix the spell. She fixed the spell's effects. If she were to cast Starswirls spell again it would yield the same result. Thus she had to re write the spell so it would yield the proper effect. 

 

What indication is there that this was a "pony heaven"? I certainly didn't see one. An higher magical plane yes, pony after-life no. After completing the spell of ultimate harmony she ascended to another plane and Celestia met her there to help her through the process. The magical plane was largely an device used for artistic staging so they could convey and reinforce the idea of Twilight's character growth. A growth and theme related directly to the harmony of friendship and its importance. Something that permeates the entire episode. 

 

The musical numbers were not just sheer emotion. That is a big part about what a musical is suppose to do. Express the emotion of the character and reflect that in the scene. However your completely forgetting the visual info conveyed with that. Each song has a very specific purpose in moving the story along conveying the problem and emotions that go with it whilst at the same time having extreme thematic content to them. Its essential the best example of the show dont tell principal. A lot of content is conveyed in a short amount of time, which is probably in large part why they went the musical direction. 

 

Yes it was very rushed, this would have been far better as a two parter. I think this is why people are having a hard time grasping the episode too much is conveyed too fast. Important plot element such as the switching of the elements of harmony are there, but only for a second. The musical set up seems to be throwing some off too. The show does use musical numbers but never in this format for story telling. Though in the form of a musical things are shown and expressed more than shown. It an error which marrs a very deep and thematic episode with great moments. It unfortunate none of those moments has the time to be fully explored.

Edited February 18, 2013 by Anadu Kune

[Betez 1,734]

Eh, somewhat. It really should have been a 2-parter. But, that's behind us now. I honestly liked the song, I thought they were catchy. However, she did find the cure out of the blue without the help of her friends. (But in all honesty, how could they help? They weren't themselves.) We all knew she was going to become an Alicorn. It leaves a cliffhanger for the 4th season.

[Soundgarden 2,758]

The thing I disliked the most in this episodes is the fact that about a third (or more) of the episode was just singing! It was like if the writers had no clue what to do, so they just made some songs to fill up empty space. But then, hey, there's still 2 episodes to go. Just such a shame that S3 had to end with this episode,

[NavelColt 22,879]

I hope a lot gets expanded on in the first episode of Season 4.

 

Responses to the finale don't belong in their own topics, they should be posted here in the official episode discussion sections :3 I've merged your topic, 'I'll be honest, I thought the Season 3 finale was disappointing' with the official S3 finale topic.

[Lighthope 36]

- <Plothole>

 

- <Plothole>

 

- <Plothole>

 

- <Plothole>

 

And lastly

 

- <Plothole>

 

So here's a slice of Swiss Cheese:

 

 

As you can see, this episode has more holes than this slice of swiss cheese. I rest my case.

 

You're absolutely right.  I had a problem with most everything you listed.

 

But as I said in another post, it's a show for six-year olds.  Sometimes you just need to sit back and enjoy the ride.  The first time I saw this ep, I was bothered by eveything you listed.  Then I watched it again, didn't dwell on the nitpicks, and just had a fun time.

 

As long as Fluttershy doesn't start eating animals for breakfast or Rainbow Dash forgets she can fly like Daffy Duck does, I'm not going to let a little logic-slip here and there ruin my fun.

 

In the words of Robert Holmes (one of the most famous Doctor Who wrtiers since there seem to be a lot of DW fans in the Brony community), you can't let a little thing like continuity get in the way of good storytelling.

 

Pearls of Wisdom - I was born intelligent. Education ruined me.

 

[Booksmith 87]

I like how she is a princess and she will most likely live in Canterlot while the rest stay in Ponyville. Separating the 6 characters was one of the major things that lead to the end of the world in FO:E 

 

Here's hoping for a pony Apocalypse! Now that would make an awesome season 4. War with the Zebras. 

[Anadu Kune 668]

That's exactly what I fear. There's a big distance between a boss and his co-workers. They can't really be the same friends they used to been. I mean everyone bows down whenever Celestia arrives, Twilight would be getting the same treatment too. I guess she would move on to bigger matters and she would be going to different cities they haven't been to but it won't feel like an adventure anymore. She wouldn't have to win the hearts of anyone using wit and smarts anymore now that everyone knows she's a princess.

 

Twilight becoming a princess should be done in the end of MLP: FiM or when it's near the end.

I don't think this is necessarily true. How many times did she and her friends save the freaking world? I think at least 4. Yet no one seems to care, or treat them differently. The Canterlot elite going as far to mock the very idea that they are important ponies. "important ponies? Oh dear you have to save the world at least five times for that" Does it really take more than defeating a wicked night goddess who has haunted culture in the form of nightmares and legend, looming over everyonr in the moon? Its actually something that really bothers me about the show. 

 

Shell still have to use her wits and smarts, just in different ways for different things. Well have to see. Of course they cant be friends the same way they used to be. Thier bond has become far stronger than it ever was before. Friendships change over time. They wernt the same kind of friends in season 2 that they were in 1. Same with season 3 and Im sure that progression will carry on in season 4.

[Chuckles4lyfe 441]

I really enjoyed the season finale. Twilight's change really gives the show a chance to explore new themes and settings. The musical score for the episode was just perfect in my opinion. Special thanks to Daniel Ingram for creating such masterpieces. Many people are still skeptical about our new Alicorn Princess, but I for one am looking forward to the new adventures and hijinks that are sure to ensue in the fourth season . 

 

Remember bronies, just because Twilight gained a pair of wings doesn't mean that she has changed drastically from when she was just a "plain-old unicorn". Sure she can fly now, but she's still the adorkable, clumsy, egghead that we have grown to love. And as quoted from our new princess herself, 

"Everything's going to be just fine"  .

[Anadu Kune 668]

Socially speaking, the two ponies are equals now (unless there is a heirarchy among princesses), so she's not really Celestia's student, rather that Celestia is simply an equal with seniority.

 

I was also under the assumption that Celestia wanted Twilight to study friendship because she did not fully understand the concept herself.

I think your forgetting the context of her worst fear. Her worst fear wasn't simply not being Celestia's student. It was failing her and disappointing her. Even further than that Celestia shunned and rejected her. How much would that hurt for a mother and mentor figure to do that? For Twilight it would almost be like having her mother say "I have no daughter". Even further than that the fear was also of failing in general not just Celestia but everyone even though it focused on Celestia.

 

In this case Celestia was openly loving and supportive. Stating how proud she was of Twilight. So this was nothing like her worst fear. This was addressed in the episode when twilight asked if she wasn't her student anymore. The answer was not in the same way as before, but ill still be here to support you. So yes the dynamic has changed, they now will teach each other. Not just Twilight and Celestia but the mane six and Celestia.

[Metaright 76]

and one thing that I also noticed... you've been raging for like 2 days on this thread at everyone who actualy enjoyed the episode... so much for love and tolerance.

 

And one thing I've noticed is that you don't understand that disagreeing and not showing tolerance are not the same things. If we're not allowed to talk about the episodes flaws, who's not being tolerant?

Each song was extremely important to the plot and moved the story along whilst conveying emotion. It essentialy the essence of the show dont tell principal in animation.

 

How did the songs adopt a "show don't tell" policy? Did you not hear the lyrics, which existed entirely to tell the audience about what the characters are feeling?

1:You really don't see how the farm would most likely fail without her? Other than her who is really capable of all the heavy lifting? Pretty much Big Mac. Apple Bloom while useful cant really do what Apple jack is capable of and Granny smith is to old. Your also missing the entire point. Its the harmony of the Apple family that keeps the farm running. Its not just Applejack they cant do without its all of them. Its the message that permeates through the entire episode. Pinkie is shown doing everything alone as to focus on her character dilemma. This more a problem with pacing there's not enough time to explore the concepts presented.

For one thing, Applejack has been absent from the farm before, and this is the only time it's gone into disrepair. That's where the plothole lies. You can come up with all the retrospective justification you want, but using plotholes like that is just bad storytelling.

2:You really haven't seen how Pinkie brings about happiness in ponyville? An entire song was dedicated to it. The Smile song in season 2 was used not only to show that spreading happiness was Pinkie's purpose in life but it also showed that yes she did have an effect on all of ponyville.

Yes, she has an effect on their happiness. Does that mean that without Pinkie, the entire town would deteriorate? Of course not. This hasn't happened in the past when Pinkie is absent, so why should it happen now?

3:Once again you have missed the entire point. Twilight realized that only the harmony of friendship could solve this. Only through the direct personal help and guidance of "a true friend" could the problem be fixed. It was Twilight's accumulated knowledge and understanding of the importance of friendship that allowed her to solve the problem . She knew and it had been established that no form magic spell could help the situation. So she used a lesson she learned earlier in the season in Magical Duel. That being the bond of friendship trumps magical prowess and understanding alone. Using that bond and her clever mind to solve the problem rather than a magical device or spell.

Sure, her friendship is powerful and all that. This still doesn't address how she would have come up with such a strange, nonsensical solution to the problem at hand.

The believed they had always been meant to do what they were doing. Stuck constantly failing at their given task and not knowing why. Twilight and spike of course remembered because the only element not effected was Twilight's. She remained in her place in the world and with the memories that place had as did spike some one heavily heavily tied to her everyday life.

That's just fishing for an explanation, and I don't think you can deny it. Twilight's memory is intact because her Element wasn't scrambled. Fine. But there is no good reason why Spike's memories should be intact. The rest of Ponyville forgot, and you can't just explain it away. "Oh, Spike remembers because he lives in close proximity to Twilight!" That doesn't make any sense.

But as I said in another post, it's a show for six-year olds.  Sometimes you just need to sit back and enjoy the ride.  The first time I saw this ep, I was bothered by eveything you listed.  Then I watched it again, didn't dwell on the nitpicks, and just had a fun time.

The reason I enjoy watching the show is because I don't have to do that. This show is great precisely because it doesn't give me a bunch of child-pandering crap to sift through. The show has been intelligent in the past, enjoyable regardless of age group. If you had to let go of your own critical thoughts to enjoy it, that's basically an admission that this episode sucked.

[Mr. Jaguar 1,403]

1:You really don't see how the farm would most likely fail without her? Other than her who is really capable of all the heavy lifting? Pretty much Big Mac. Apple Bloom while useful cant really do what Apple jack is capable of and Granny smith is to old.

 

It's never been indicated or implied that Applejack was the sole thing keeping the farm from running down. Also, her siblings still should've helped instead of letting Pinkie run the orchard into the ground.

 

Your also missing the entire point. Its the harmony of the Apple family that keeps the farm running. Its not just Applejack they cant do without its all of them. Its the message that permeates through the entire episode. Pinkie is shown doing everything alone as to focus on her character dilemma. This more a problem with pacing there's not enough time to explore the concepts presented

Of course the fast degeneration of the farm is just as much an artistic representation of this and of course is exaggerated. Then again exaggeration is key in animation and the whole series relies upon it. It is unlikely the farm would deteriorated that fast. Then again we are talking about a world in which all weather phenomena along with pretty much everything else are created and guided by magical ponies so...is this really all that unbelievable?

 

Ya, I don't buy it, sorry. I think it's just poor writing, I didn't get the impression that it was just to show that Pinkie was miserable with what she was doing, that really, really sounds like a stretch.

 

2:You really haven't seen how Pinkie brings about happiness in ponyville? An entire song was dedicated to it. The Smile song in season 2 was used not only to show that spreading happiness was Pinkie's purpose in life but it also showed that yes she did have an effect on all of ponyville. Effectively that song did show that Pinkies presence was largely responsible for preventing depression and negative emotions from creeping into ponyville. You also missed the point. Again the present theme of harmony and friendship is here. Each of the ponies is an Element of Harmony their presence is integral to keeping the harmony ponyville normally enjoys. The purpose here is to show what would happen when that was taken away. The elements of harmony were scrambled. With each respective pony removed from their proper place in the world so too were the effects of the element they represent. 

 

I was aware that she brings joy to ponyville, that was established, what was not established was that she was the sole source of Ponyville's happiness. And also, why were they miserable without her? Why is she the only thing that can make them happy? What's making them miserable? It wasn't Rarity messing up the weather, as they were still grumpy afterwards, it was not until Pinkie came along that they all became happy again. I don't believe that one person can be the sole source of an entire civilization's happiness when there is no reason given as to why the citizens are even miserable to begin with.

 

3:Once again you have missed the entire point. Twilight realized that only the harmony of friendship could solve this. Only through the direct personal help and guidance of "a true friend" could the problem be fixed. It was Twilight's accumulated knowledge and understanding of the importance of friendship that allowed her to solve the problem . She knew and it had been established that no form magic spell could help the situation. So she used a lesson she learned earlier in the season in Magical Duel. That being the bond of friendship trumps magical prowess and understanding alone. Using that bond and her clever mind to solve the problem rather than a magical device or spell.

 

That doesn't address my point at all, which is that she came to the conclusion that slapping their elements back on them would somehow give them back their memories of their special talents, despite no explanation being given as to how she came to that conclusion, as the elements have never been shown to be capable of such a thing.

 

4:Well for one thing princesses have never really made sense in this show. It seems blatantly obvious Celestia and Luna are far more than just princesses their very presence brings balance to all life. So if that's really a problem for you its one that permeates the entire show. What it means to be a princess is never explained. However that wasnt the point of the episode. The point of the episode in regards to the princess thing was to show what lead up to the change and then end on it. Considering this is an ongoing series and the main character is now a princess we are probably finally going to get some answers. As Celestia said though that will come later.

 

Also it seems to be indicated that Celestia merely helped the process along. Notice the magic doesn't come from Celestia, it comes out of Twilight herself. That's the point, Twilight reached this point from her own understanding, her own power within, and its that power that allows her to move to this next big stage in her life.

 

This doesn't address the point of mine you're responding to either, my complaint was that there is no reason given as to why they even needed another princess to begin with. For the entirety of the show, Celestia and Luna have been shown to be able to run the nation just fine without a third princess, now, suddenly, they're making Twilight a princess to rule along with them. Why? What's the point? There is none, that's the problem.

In the words of Robert Holmes (one of the most famous Doctor Who wrtiers since there seem to be a lot of DW fans in the Brony community), you can't let a little thing like continuity get in the way of good storytelling.

 

 

 

Good storytelling doesn't have continuity errors or plot holes, that's bad storytelling.

Edited February 19, 2013 by Mr. Jaguar

[Cheezburqer 0]

My only problem is that I'm afraid of what might happen. Something stupid is probably gonna happen and she'll lose her princess abilities all over again. I just really hope nothing fucks up and things can be okay for once.

[poniesforfun 716]

I don't think this is necessarily true. How many times did she and her friends save the freaking world? I think at least 4. Yet no one seems to care, or treat them differently. The Canterlot elite going as far to mock the very idea that they are important ponies. "important ponies? Oh dear you have to save the world at least five times for that" Does it really take more than defeating a wicked night goddess who has haunted culture in the form of nightmares and legend, looming over everyonr in the moon? Its actually something that really bothers me about the show. 

 

Shell still have to use her wits and smarts, just in different ways for different things. Well have to see. Of course they cant be friends the same way they used to be. Thier bond has become far stronger than it ever was before. Friendships change over time. They wernt the same kind of friends in season 2 that they were in 1. Same with season 3 and Im sure that progression will carry on in season 4.

 

There's a whole difference of being a savior of a city (they didn't really save the world per se) and having a title. If they were given titles then that would give them more resources to work with and that would mean less adventure and less downtime.

 

Goku in DBZ saved the world a dozen times but he doesn't have a title and for that he still remains a very interesting character.

[Spectrum 117 6]

I can't help but say the last episode was really... distasteful. It was all so random, so sudden, and I even winced through 80% of it.
However, while in a conversation with a friend of mine, he thought of the most genius idea: What if it's all fake? What if the release and "rehabilitation" of a certain villain didn't work, and he's really still up to his chaotic plans to ruin everything? 

Did I also mention how random and sudden 'Keep Calm and Flutter On' was? These two episodes seem very... unreal. As if the said villain, Discord, was really faking his alliance with the Mane 6 and the Princesses. 
All I'm saying is that the last episode was extremely out of place and that something might just be putting it up to distract the heroes in MLP.

Anyone agree? This makes way too much sense to me, especially with Discord's release.

[Metaright 76]

I can't help but say the last episode was really... distasteful. It was all so random, so sudden, and I even winced through 80% of it.

However, while in a conversation with a friend of mine, he thought of the most genius idea: What if it's all fake? What if the release and "rehabilitation" of a certain villain didn't work, and he's really still up to his chaotic plans to ruin everything? 

Did I also mention how random and sudden 'Keep Calm and Flutter On' was? These two episodes seem very... unreal. As if the said villain, Discord, was really faking his alliance with the Mane 6 and the Princesses. 

All I'm saying is that the last episode was extremely out of place and that something might just be putting it up to distract the heroes in MLP.

Anyone agree? This makes way too much sense to me, especially with Discord's release.

 

It seems a bit out there. Plus, I don't know which I'd prefer- for Discord to be a recurring character, or for this episode to be the result of stylistic suck.

[immblueversion 331]

I'm sorry, guys. I have officially REFUSED to watch this episode after seeing a summary on TV tropes. And I've heard that:

• Twilight is now TEACHING the Magic of Friendship as opposed to learning it.
• Most of the episode is taken up by songs.
• The other 5 of the mane 6 at one point BOW DOWN to Twilicorn.

If this is true, I actually think the show is going downhill. Hasbro have screwed up the plot. Now that Twi is an alicorn, I'm worried that the plot's going to focus more around her, and the rest of the mane 6 are going to get shoved to the side. I don't want that happen, because I believe there's still a lot of potential for the show, and for development of the 

 

 

Well, here's how I see it:

• I've brought this up several times earlier, but I find the coronation to be a form of knighthood more than anything. Twilight's going to help guide others on what she's learned about friendship, yes, but she still has plenty of room for personal growth.
• Half the episode being made up of songs isn't so bad. The songs are what move the plot forward, as a musical is supposed to do. I'd say maybe one or two are there to take up space, but still, the fact that they managed to put together a more-or-less working plot with so many songs in it is impressive. Besides, the songs are awesome, methinks.
• Again, knighthood. It's a huge honor for Twilight, and her friends are proud of her. Knowing Twilight, she's gonna keep treating them like they're all equals. Maybe they'll even have an episode focusing on her friends trying to do the same.

Edited February 19, 2013 by immblueversion

[TailsIsNotAlone 3,695]

The thing I disliked the most in this episodes is the fact that about a third (or more) of the episode was just singing! It was like if the writers had no clue what to do, so they just made some songs to fill up empty space.

That's exactly what I've been saying. People who liked the episode say "the story was great, it was just rushed, that's all." To me it was just a whole lot of nothing, happening quickly.

 

Let's not argue too much about it, though. Remember we'll still be here when Season 4 starts. We all have to get along, at least until then.

[Arcanel 3,041]

So...... we finally got the last episode of S3...........holy Celestial Twilight Moon! (yes, that's my new phrase, sue me ). That was just a marvelous episode! Definitely my favorite of the whole season, and one of my top episodes of the whole show! Marvelous job M.A.Larson. Marvelous, wondrous, fantastic job!

 

So, when I first saw the episode, I was around some of the bronies here in Argentina because we had made a get together to watch the episode in HD for those who hadn't managed to watch it live, one of them was me. I gotta admit, even though there was a lot of noise around, I was actually able to inmerse myself completely in the episode, which made it even more enjoyable. So, let's see what this episode left in my mind!

 

First let me talk about the beginning. I had read in a status update somewhere before I saw the episode that the beginning had been taken straight out of the Beauty and the Beast. And I could not agree more because I remember that movie, and Twilight became Belle in her way of singing all happy and stuff. If this WAS actually similar to it in purpose, then it's ANOTHER plus to Daniel Ingram. Seriously.

 

I enjoyed ALL of the songs of Daniel Ingram and Steffan Andrews, Will Anderson of course didn't fall behind with his BGM music (AND CELESTIA SANG HOLY HER IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL! ). And if that wasn't enough, the animation was MARVELOUS. And in fact, aside from the fact it was all flowing so smoothly, and had a lot of awesome tricks like the memory call back to all the ponies and the lasers that came out of the EoH and most importantly the friggin SPACE LIKE PLACE, I found another type of animation that I hadn't seen that well in a good while. What am I talking about? None other than Twilight's slow-mo motion when finishing to write the magic. What did it remind me to? Dexter's Laboratory. I think I really saw it on my second view of the episode, but it was nice getting another nostalgia attack nonetheless. So, honestly to me, DHX friggin kicked flank.

 

Another thing I'm starting to realize is, that most of M.A Larson's episodes have references to past episodes, just like Magic Duel did for example, and I'm sure others before it did as well. This goes to show me how Larson makes full use of the show's history to make his episodes as well. Considering there were at least 3 references or call backs to past episodes in this episode alone, this was rather interesting.

 

Another thing I realized, especially during True, True Friend is how Ponyville DOES act like a small village where everypony knows everypony. This came more to realization when Pinkie came up. Here's why. Pinkie is obviously known as the local party planner of Ponyville, aside from working in Sugarcube corner. So, with all of her parties, literally everypony would have managed to know other ponies thanks to her. Plus that to the fact Pinkie is also a local prankster, the pony who always has a smile on her face AND is known for ALWAYS bringing the same thing to others................................well... seeing how happy was were the ponyvillians to see her again, was truly wonderful, and goes to show how much of an impact she has left in the small town. 

 

Now, as for how Twilight was quick to both fall from her fault, and rise to help out, it seems to me that-... wait a moment... I'm just wondering, if Spike hadn't been around, what would have Twilight done? Would she have snapped from her sad moment anyway... or would she have kept on guilt tripping? This is something interesting to think of IMO. Besides, this is not the first time that Spike has to play the role of snapping Twilight out of a "trance" that was NOT going to be good for her, so I felt actually rather well with that moment altogether.

 

Then comes how quickly Carousel Boutique and Sweet Apple Acres fell in disgrace... now... Carousel Boutique depends much on word of voice. So should this same thing failed to happen or brought bad reviews and comments, it definitely go awry. And as for Sweet Apple Acres, I have the slight feeling that Pinkie broke the balance that maintained the farm. Considering that the Apple family had left when AJ had probably disappeared from her doings, the farm would also go awry really fast. Now, even if it WASN'T like this, it goes to show on what would have happened, and it is, like someone else said, a rather artistic way of showing how each pony not doing their jobs can bring some very awful things. 

 

The thing about the destinies of each pony representing their cutie marks. Now everypony with their cutie marks had followed exactly what their talents represented, and therefore, followed what their cutie mark implied. So I'm guessing that changing a cutie mark like Starswirl's spell did, would technically change their personalities slightly because the situation would go a bit like this, that is, supposing they had all the memories of doing something completely different, which wasn't the case this time:

 

"Wow... what happened... is everything oka-........... I don't remember this cutie mark! What the...? Why do I...? But I remember doing something else... but..." And then go on wondering why in the world would the pony have a different cutie mark that represented something different from what was done, and this might lead to investigating on how to fix it. But, there's also the fact that changing a cutie mark somehow changes WHERE did they get their cutie mark, and therefore, change their memories slightly to follow that timeline. I believe this to be a good reason for the whole change of personality as well.

 

Now, I wanna say that pretty much EVERYTHING that was in the episode had a meaning. Even the explosion where Twilight "died". I don't know if many had caught this, but the scorch mark that the explosion left in the house did have a meaning in itself, and was how I knew Twilight had actually been transported. For those that didn't caught it, the scorch mark had the form of Twilight's cutie mark. That right there is foreshadowing that something big was going to happen to Twilight.

 

Now, let's get to the big subject that had paralyzed 3/4 of the brony world around.

 

Twilight Sparkle turning into an alicorn.

 

So, Hasbro or no Hasbro, why would Celestia want to turn Twilight in an alicorn? Why so fast? And I think the key lies in all the tests that Celestia had prepared for Twilight along the show's story.

 

It is clear after this that Friendship is DEFINITELY Magic. The title of the show now not only rings as something good for kids to learn, but now has an actual meaning. I know, this isn't a reason at all, but regardless, it is something important to notice. However, the moment I think Celestia might have thought of Twilight to becoming an alicorn............... was right on the entry exam of the little filly, back when she almost made a magic nova. Celestia probably at first thought nothing of it, and rather saw a filly who a TREMENDOUS amount of potential. However, as Celestia grew on her role as teacher for the little filly... something might have snapped.

 

Now, in theory, a teacher has a role of helping his/her students to reach their maximun potential. What if this is what Celestia thought? Of course, she couldn't just go and say "Hello, now you're an alicorn" and BOOM hello taller size and extra flying-capable limbs. No... I think... this might have been a reason on why Celestia had been testing Twilight all along.

 

The first test on to see in whether or not Twilight would aqcuire the potential she might have suspected was right in the night where The Mare in the Moon, AKA Nightmare Moon came back, and if Twilight would trust the ponies she met in Ponyville. Considering how the whole thing allowed Celestia to recover her sister, she could not have been more in debt to her faithful student, especially if she had been watching through some sort of magical crystal ball or whatnot since the beginning.

 

Then came the other tests. Against Discord. Against Sombra. And now... against Starswirl, you could say. The first let her learn that friendship will have its ups and downs, always. The second let her learn how sometimes, she would have to rely on her friends to help  and do what she couldn't (which is different from letting her friends help her, lesson in the first episodes). And finally, the last one, made her learn that Friendship IS really a way of magic. Which casually, is more or less what her cutie mark represents. Also, like someone else said, solving Starswirl's last spell is probably the equivalent of solving a really old math problem, like Fermat's. And for those that don't know if her writing new magic is a means to becoming an alicorn, remember that it seems that Twilight has just as much potential for knowledge and magic as Starswirl himself. It wouldn't be too hard to imagine that the roles could have been inverted, and instead of Starswirl writing the new spells, it had been Twilight. Or at least it isn't for me.

 

Now, let's couple this with the fact that Celestia had been preparing the book of Starswirl since episode 1 in S3, which was the biggest bout of foreshasowing that we could have ever got. And, coupled with all the lessons Twilight herself learn that could have gone for something else, biggest examples would probably Lesson Zero (which was more or less dealing against HERSELF), and Magic Duel (which was dealing against somepony more powerful than her). All of this would imply that something big would happen to our dear adorkable purple unicorn. And this was it.

 

Now, I want to address a different pony. Starswirl the Bearded. Now, I'm getting the slight feel that Celestia, while teaching Twilight, was realizing just how much her student was looking like Starswirl. And with this... this might have scared her. Why? Because if Starswirl had failed to complete his masterpiece because of lacking an understanding of friendship............. I have the slight feeling that this might mean that Starswirl was lonely... without friends...driven by the thought of wanting to learn more... and disregarding the subject of friendship as something with not much meaning and that only helped interrupt his studies. I have the slight feeling that Twilight was going through the same way. And this is another reason why Celestia sent Twilight to Ponyville. Because while she was her teacher, she was also the best friend Twilight had ever had before Ponyville (and not counting Ms. Smartypants of course ). She might have thought that Twilight was going through the same path as Starswirl. So not only she sent her student as a teacher... but she also sent it as her friend. Which in my head, sounds like something beautiful to do.

 

And here I call upon all of the Rainbow Dash fans of the fandom. Because if what I said was true...then Rainbow Dash, helping Twilight gain her cutie mark, causing the filly to make the gigangic magic nova and which caused Celestia to garner Twilight as her student, could also be held as being indirectly responsible for Twilight becoming an alicorn.

 

Just think about that.

 

Of course, this is all just speculation. I could be completely wrong. But hey, this whole episode gave me stuff to think.

 

And then there's the fact of how Twilight becoming an alicorn could affect her relationship with her friends. I know for one that Rainbow gaining a new flying buddy, and Pinkie having a reason to make a party don't mind at all. However, let's look at it the other way. Suppose her friends DO start treating Twilight different for being a Princess now. Wouldn't this give the writers a potential episode about Twilight wanting her friends NOT to treat her differently? Especially with how much Twilight appreciates her friends? I think this could easily happen in S4, and I wouldn't mind seeing it at all. And besides, her friends love Twilight a lot. Conflict because of not knowing how to treat a princess who happens to be your close friend... might or might not be more potential writing episodes. ONe would think of her friends possibly taking advantage of Twilight's new position and wings, but not only that seems WAY unlikely, we already had a episode with a similar plot, which was "The Ticket Master".

 

Then, we can treat it for the other way, which is the responsabilities of Twilight as a princess interrupting her friendship with the the rest of the mane 6. I don't need to say that this is easily the reason Twilight might step down from being an alicorn. But even then, there are other posibilities, like her friends actually HELPING Twilight through her ordeals as a princess. So I'm, again, not bothered in the slightest by this.

 

Next, another thing about Starswirl. Why exactly would he make a cutie mark/destiny changing spell? I can only think of two reasons:

 

1. He did it for the sole purpose of researching, and I actually see him doing this just to test if it was possible to change cutie marks between other ponies.

2. Someone might have been in help or distraught about their cutie marks, and Starswirl might have been concerned enough to try and figure out a spell to save them or something different. This is something I don't see as much probable though...

 

I can't exactly tell if there's a certain reason, but for all purposes, I'm going to go and guess that Starswirl just wanted to test magic the same way he did as for whenever he wrote new magic, but I'm not sure at all.

 

So... another thing that brings curiosity. What exactly is that space-y place where Celestia and Twilight were? Is it a certain place that all ponies who will turn into alicorns go? Was Twilight supposed to go there and, like someone else around here said, Celestia just came so that her student wouldn't be all alone and all "What the hay?!"?I don't really have an answer for this. It is obviously a place that can obviously only be accessed through a certain channeled power. I'm gonna go and guess that the Elements of Harmony, which by the way were used by Luna and Celestia, have something to do with this. Problem is, that still leaves Cadence's alicornhood in question. But then again, Cadence looks like she was born from the cross of a crystal pony... and a normal pony, which COULD have been an alicorn. There is a reason after all why she's Celestia's niece... but the question around our Crystal Princess goes on... 

 

And finally, one more thing that I'd like to point out, is how well did the writers chose would do the "new" task for each pony when the cutie mark change happened. This is of course, taking out the ponies with their "correct" jobs, like Rainbow Dash being the onw who controls weather, etc and taking out Twilight Sparkle.

 

Rarity was the one handling the weather. The only other one who could have done this is Fluttershy. But she is neither that fast nor would want to have anything to do with dem clouds. So Rarity who has magic could handle it, could be fast enough, and do it well... had it not been for the fact she just wanted to create "cloud art" (I swear, if I see a brony taking a photo of an "art-y" cloud, I'm gonna call it a day in life and die ).

 

Rainbow Dash was the one handling the animals..........technically she was the only one who could do this because she's the only other pegasus. Handling animals unnaturally with magic (let's count that Twilight was doing the whole Magic Duel thing with permission of Fluttershy AND the animals, so to speak) doesn't seem really likely, so it RD was the one who was called in.

 

Applejack was the one handling the dresses part. Fluttershy wouldn't make sense because she can actually sew. Pinkie Pie wouldn't make that much sense either because she at least knows how to handle things with care, so to speak. And while in subtlety with hooves both AJ and RD would be considered the same level, it makes more sense that AJ be the one as at least HAD done something arts-y, like cooking (no offense to Rainbow Dash, but her Sonic Rainboom doesn't really count, but I welcome anyone to remind of whatever I might have forgotten when RD might have done something arts-y).

 

Pinkie Pie was the one handling the farm. Now in here, Rarity would not work at a farm at all Fluttershy doesn't have enough strength to buck trees IMO. Rainbow Dash could probably take all the apples herself by flying fast as all hell. But Pinkie was the one who had technically worked in a farm before (maybe not an apple farm but a farm nonetheless), and she's also an earth pony, ergo, keeping her to do all the apple working, earth pony style.

 

And then Fluttershy was handling making the townsponies laugh. Rarity doesn't seen to be the one to want to make others laugh as Pinkie would do, Rainbow Dash as a prankster would obviously go awry as somepony might get hurt, and Applejack would have the.. erm... let's call not subtlety enough to do Pinkie's job, plus the fact Fluttershy would be the one to try and make others feel good and laugh out of all 4 left, but I could be wrong.

 

This is, again, even more especulation, but once more, this episode made me think a friggin lot.

 

I think that's all. I honestly thoroughly enjoyed the episode, and I'm one of the few who didn't feel the episode was rushed (but I don't think I'm the best to actually notice this because I really don't tell if something was rushed or not.). For those who did feel it like that, a second watch MIGHT give you a different opinion, but then again it might not.

 

But seriously though, for those going overly commando and overanalyzing, don't let it ruin your enjoyment of the episode. Do I mean that if you overanalyze you instantly dislike it? Hell no! What I'm saying is that it might distract you. If you don't like an episode because there was simply something that totally made you disconnected from the episode and made you dislike it, then that's it, you don't like it, end of discussion. Nobody should try and change that because tastes is something that shouldn't be forced to change in this type of cases. But I want is that overanalyzing the episode should be left for a second watching of the episode, if you want to do so, that is. First watch and see if you enjoyed the episode, and then watch it again if you wanna analyze stuff. Kind of like playing a game. First enjoy the story or different, then you should try doing everything else in a second try if you like it enough and wanna do extra stuff.

 

Anyway.... this is the end of Season 3, and we don't know how much will we really have to wait for it. But I can honestly say, that I'm waiting for it as much as I can. But there's also something else, and it is related to Twilight as an alicorn. Meghan McCarthy has already stated, that the episode is in fact the first of three parts, according to her, and the that the next two parts will be in S4. But this left me wondering........ Meghan is a brilliant writer. And so is the rest of DHX. I don't know about you but......... the whole "Everything's going to be fine"....... I can't help but think that something bad will happen in the Season 4 premiere. I don't know what, but something. It could be a test to Twilight's new responsibilites and body, but I'm not sure. All I know is that the phrase "everything's going to be fine"... could be the biggest foreshadowing that something will happen in the next episode. What, we don't know. But it leaves me waiting for more... and I can't wait.

 

Finally, the last thing I wanna say something about is Hasbro. Did they gave the order of of making Twilight an alicorn? Probably yes. But as far as at least I can see, the alicorn thing could have more meaning than we might be intending to see. And this is why I trust ALL the writers from the show to make the alicorn part, which by the way gives them an interesting thing to deal with and a change in their way of dealing with the show, as nice and great as possible, without breaking the show. I haven't lost this faith, and I don't think I will. From the (apparently dreaded) different point-of-view Merriwether Williams, to the semi-comtroversial, joke liker Dave Polsky, to the newbie writer, CMC liker Corey Powell, to the animation user, also lyric writer M.A. Larson, to the lesson teacher Cindy Morrow, to the crazy pony liker Meghan McCarthy, to the might-be-participating and newbie Teddy Antonio, to the once and maybe returning (he left a while ago, I think) Chris Savino, and the returning Amy Keating Rogers. I have liked all their episodes, respect their skills, and trust them with this fantastic job. And this applies to the storyboarders, the animators, the VA's etc. All the crew. I trust them with the next season no matter what.

 

Finishing this gigantic post, I hope you all enjoyed this fantastic season, and until Season 4!

Edited February 19, 2013 by Arcanel