Ardsman

Hello everyone, I've decided to make this post because of...issues I'm having. A year ago, like many of you, I tuned in to watch EQG: Electric Boogaloo...I mean, EQG3: Friendship Games. For the most part, I enjoyed it like mostly everyone else as well. Except, there was something about it that has made me feel so...I don't know, uncomfortable? Confused? Annoyed? Frustrated and Angry? All of those apply I believe and I have reached a point I don't really know what to do to deal with it. Maybe airing my thoughts here can help somehow. Spoilers ahead for EQG3 and potentially 4 (on that note, please do not give spoilers on EQG 4, I haven't seen it yet, but intend to. If anything in it happens that should help me resolve my issues though, you can at least mention as such, just not what exactly it is.) So, my issues that stem from this film revolve around Human Twilight. To be frank, I do not like how she was treated. At all. Especially what happened to her at the end. I mean, here is the alternate human version of a character who we've seen save Equestria many times, has generally positive relations with everypony else (even before moving to Ponyville and especially after) and has confidence in herself but without ego. Yet, while the rest of the Mane 6's human counterparts in the EQG verse are practically humanized teenage versions of the originals with no real difference other than their species, age (possibly) and current life setting, Twilight seems to get the short end of the stick by going to a school where shes's surrounded by assholes, (a little spaceballs reference for anyone looking), having an insipid, vile monster as her principal/mentor replacing Celestia who manipulates Twilight for her own ends and lacks a lot of the confidence that her pony version has, making her out to be this meek, nearly Fluttershy-esque distortion of what she normally is. What? Why? I thought the difference behind this universe was that the ponies were humans, not "the ponies are humans and Twilight is miserable." If I wanted an imperfect version of any of the mane six, I rather go to a custom made universe for that, or even their mirror universe. Now I could accept that if that was the end of it, If the movie ended with Twilight breaking away cleanly from Crystal Prep. I'd still be a little annoyed, but not so much that it bothers me. But instead, we get Twilight becoming Midnight Sparkle and it just... I didn't like it. It just feels wrong. She didn't deserve that to happen to her. She already had enough bad stuff happening to her but that was a step too far. I mean, the idea of Twilight turning into a villain, at least for a while, isn't a bad one. Hell, I'd actually be quite interested in it if this had been in the show itself with Pony Twilight or any of the Mane Six there. I mean, this kind of thing has happened in other shows, movies, games, books etc many times before and I usually find quite exciting. With the hero corrupted and its up to the hero's friends or even former enemies to rescue them, that an exciting concept that flip the status quo on its head! But I feel that the way it was executed here didn't work. This wasn't the main Twilight who already has plenty of experience and goodwill built from her past adventures or some dark, evil reflection of Twilight from the mirror Universe that you could expect to become Midnight Sparkle. This was a version of Twilight who we've never met before, has never had any of the adventures Princess Twilight has had, nor does she have the kind of experience dealing with friends or being part of something strange and amazing and bigger than her. Yet she's still as good a person as her pony counterpart, she just happens to be human, living in a human society and sure, like I said earlier, less confident. So to have this happen to her, to have this be her first step in her story, it just isn't right and I need answers. Was Twilight's mind being corrupted by the magic? Was it amplifying her negative emotions, essentially forcing her into thinking more darkly and impulsively, whilst suppressing her positive traits and her conscience? Was it basically a form of mind control altering her mind and that, once lifted, Twilight's natural morals and way of thinking kicked in and she realised what she was doing, making her horrified by her what she had been doing? I would much prefer that to be the answer, rather than the alternative. That Twilight....gave in basically. That just having power and knowledge in and of themselves made her willingly think, of her own volition, "Well this is actually pretty cool. I think I'll just start punching holes into another dimension just to satisfy my own curiosity, even though I was begging Cinch just a minute ago that something bad could happen. Sure I didn't want to hurt anyone earlier and I do have family that I cared about, but they don't matter to me anymore, now that I've got these nifty powers and knowledge filling my brain, they can go suck it!" That's horrible, that feels like character betrayal to me. It would be the same as how Anakin Skywalker turned to darkside, not all that believable. I don't think Twilight, even this version, would get corrupted by just having power or knowledge, not immediately anyway. If that was all that was happening, no mind alteration involved, I'd think she would've been just floating up in the air thinking "Oh god, what's happened to me? Why can't I stop ripping holes in the reality with only my hands? Someone help me!" As such, to me, the only way things could have unfolded the way they did was if Twilight's mind was being forcibly altered in some way, there can be no alternative. Since then, the whole thing has just kept bugging me. I don't like thinking about it but I can't seem to get it out of my head. Even if I try to distract myself doing something, anything, like playing video games, talking with friends or focusing on work, the thought of it just strikes out of nowhere. Every time I see Twilight, even Pony Twilight who wasn't even involved in this, I get somewhat uncomfortable now, like anything to do with her has been tainted somehow. I just have to ask, is there anyone else who feels like this, at least somewhat? Maybe not with Twilight but with others characters who turned bad guy for a while? Like Rarity into Nightmare Rarity in the comics, or Fluttershy in to Flutterbat, or even anything unrelated to MLP? Please, say, I'd really like to know how you dealt with it and if you found a way to move on from it. I also would like to get some answers, perhaps from the crew on the movie themselves. Are there any quotes or sources where they discuss what happened to Twilight when she became Midnight? While I do believe that her mind was being tampered with, no one in the movie said anything to support or deny this. Maybe getting some solid, definitive evidence from the people who wrote it could help. I just want to finish by saying I don't blame anyone for this giving me issues. I'am not angry with anyone who worked on EQG: FF or anything like that. You did something you thought would be interesting and that's it. And normally, I'd be quite happy with this kind of story. But in this scenario, I'am not. And its left me in a weird spot I'd rather not be in. So sorry for this rant and all but yeah. If any one could help, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

Hey, so it seems that legend of Everfree has been pulled down from YouTube as expected. Is there anywhere where I can still view it?