As revealed a while ago, soapboxes will now happen once we get enough submissions for it. Send them whenever, but also expect them whenever!
If you'd like to submit one, hit this post up.
This time around, your headlines include:
- How Much Time has it Actually Been?
- Why The Last Crusade and Growing Up is Hard to Do should have been switched
- Yet Another Possible Elements Connection for Student Six
- Is Spike really a member of the Sparkle family?
- What If Starswirl The Bearded Helped Create Nightmare Moon?
Get the articles below!
How Much Time has it Actually Been?
By: a_nonnie_mous’s desk
Friendship is magic took place over the course of nine years, enough time for many younger vewiers to grow up. But something that always has me bothered is how much time passed in Equestria. Specifically, how long has it been for twilight to go from celestias pupil to the sole ruler of an entire nation?
The show started with the summer sun celebration, so we can use that as a marker of time. I’ll also be using hearthwarming, as that can also be used as a marker and (presumably) is an annual event.
The next time from the first episode we see another summer sun celebration is in the start of season 4. Twilight went from unicorn with no friends to the princess of magic in just under one whole year. The return of Luna, discord’s return/defeat/reform, a changeling invasion, the return of the crystal empire and the crowning of a new princess all was just one year at most. We also see hearthswarming in season one, so let’s use that as another marker since we see more hearthswarming than summer sun celebration.
The next hearthswarming is in season six. In the time it’s taken for us to get here, in addition to the events above excluding Lunas return, we have also seen; title, starlight glimmers introduction and reform and the birth of an alicorn. It hasn’t even been two years since the events of season one passed in equestria! And by the time we see next hearthswarming (I think the show forgot a summer sun there) it’s after season 8, on the cusp of 9! In that time span, we have seen another changeling invasion, a storm king invasion, twilights school come to be and cozy glow vacuuming up magic.
Finally, it’s season 9, and we see another summer sun celebration. Assuming we’ve missed only one between seasons 6-8, it’s been two years since the last one we saw, but let’s assume they did indeed have one. Writers just forgot. So in the time from the presumed “missing” celebration to now, equestria has seen a storm king invasion, cozy glow, the pillars return, celestia and Luna wanting to retire, sombra taking over and destroying the tree of harmony, and the treehouse of friendship. This is also when the event is changed to the “festival of the two sisters”. We don’t ever see see another ignorant either event after this.
In summary, it’s seems that twilight going from unicorn to alicorn to sole leader, and every single villain only was around 4 years. Every lesson learnt, every challenge faced was in under half the time we had. No wonder nopony seems to immediately panic at danger. This kind of thing happens every other month minimum!
Thanks for reading, and enjoy the rest of pony soapbox.
Why The Last Crusade and Growing Up is Hard to Do should have been switched
By Alexrioponylover95
So fair warning, I’m going to be a little critical regarding this topic and that is the last two CMC episodes should have switched places with each other and here’s why.
Now I love the CMCs and I very much liked The Last Crusade and Growing Up is Hard to Do, they were very good episodes for our three little fillies who went through a lot, in fact I will say that for their age, they have done as much as the Mane 6 have. So I had no problem with the episodes themselves, just the placement of them in the final season.
The Last Crusade (and not just because of the title) would have made a very good end to the CMC focused episodes, because there was a possibility that Scootaloo might very well have moved away and the CMCs would break up. Plus the addition of Scootaloo’s family (Destroying thousands of fanfics and headcanons…) was a very huge surprise to all of us. And showing everyone that the CMCs have helped since the group’s founding was a very nice touch.
Growing Up is Hard to Do, I felt, was a more generic CMC focused episode, (And to be honest the title is long and a little dull) sure the CMCs are all grown up and have to learn that being grown up is not all better as they thought it would be. However that’s the only issue at hand, they’re not being broken apart, not really introducing something new about them, or even showing anyone they have helped over the seasons. It was just a normal CMC episode and to be honest, wasn’t really right to be the last CMC episode.
To me, it would have been better if the CMCs have to learn that being grown up is not all good first, before the events in The Last Crusade. It would have made better sense to me if the CMCs had to learn their final big lesson before the possibility that they might have to separate from each other.
However, that’s only my reasons and opinion, I might be wrong and the episodes are in their right spots or you might have different reasons why they should have been switched with each other!
Is Spike really a member of the Sparkle family?
By Double C
We have seen many characters including the Mane 6 have a good time with their families including parents and siblings all except Spike. Twilight hatched him as an egg and cared for him but what about the rest of her family. In opinion, it is sad that the show never tried to explore where Spike fits in the Sparkle family but hopefully IDW will do it in the season 10 comics.
Did they adopt Spike into their family? Do Night Light and Twilight Velvet see him as their son? Do other members of the Sparkle family see him as family?
What If Starswirl The Bearded Helped Create Nightmare Moon?
By A Shy Brony
“What if Starswirl The Bearded is the greatest villain in the history of Equestria?” (Sunburst talking to Stygian, Legends of Magic Issue #12)
A couple of soapbox posts ago, Alexrioponylover95 wrote about how it would be interesting to see the lives of young Celestia and Luna, particularly to see what were the factors that helped turn Luna into Nightmare Moon. We know that Starswirl was Celestia’s and Luna’s magic teacher when they were young, a time when Starswirl’s opinions could easily influence how the two sisters interacted with both their subjects and between themselves. What I would like to suggest is that Starswirl was actually a bad influence on the young sisters, and may have helped steer Luna down the path toward Nightmare Moon.
Though I don’t really like to use the comics as sources for my thoughts, there is no denying The Legends of Magic Series is the best source for any information regarding the Pillars and young Celestia and Luna. In the first issue, (minor spoilers ahead) we see Celestia is farther ahead than Luna in her magical studies, and acts like a jerk to Luna, mocking her for not being able to keep up with her older sister. Starswirl disproves of Celestia’s behavior, but he also points out that Celestia has a point, and he is disappointed Luna is not as capable as her sister. Knowing that Starswirl doesn’t understand the magic of friendship, I wouldn’t be surprised if he openly praised Celestia more for her achievements, and at worst he may even mock Luna for lagging behind. While he never does this in the issue, it’s important to note that issues #1- #6 are told from Starswirl’s point of view. I doubt he would openly admit to insulting young Luna, if he even realized he was being insulting at all. (Starswirl’s storytelling was definitely biased or straight up incorrect at times, remember “Funky Ninja Action Music”?) If a young Luna was constantly being told she was lesser than Celestia, the seeds of jealously may already begin to form in Luna’s little heart.
An even greater impact that Starswirl could have had is based on how he sees evil, “Once a villain, always a villain!”. Instead of trying to help Stygian, Starswirl believed the only thing to do was to defeat him, which involved the exile of all of the Pillars and Stygian. When Luna began to transform into Nightmare Moon, Celestia may not have believed Luna could be saved, that’s what Starswirl the Bearded would have believed. There may have been a chance to save Luna, but if Celestia believed Luna was too far gone, than banishment to the moon was the only way to stop her, short of killing her. This is why I believe Twilight and her friends were able to save Luna, they wielded the elements as an extension of their friendships, while Celestia wielded the elements as a weapon to defeat her sister. Who knows, maybe if Starswirl the Bearded was a better friendship teacher, the timeline of Friendship is Magic could have been vastly different than the timeline we got.
Yet Another Possible Elements Connection for Student Six
By: EnergeticRider
I’ve already seen several variants, how Elements of Harmony could be connected to the Student Six. Here is my idea about that (plus some arguments):
Silverstream – Optimism. She continues the legacy of Laughter and Hope that is about boosting the spirit of others.
Yona – Tenacity. Just like Strength and Honesty being about persistence and sticking to moral compass, her role is to be an “anchor” for the group.
Ocellus – Knowledge. Similar to Magic and Sorcery bearers she also studies a lot and learns about the world around her. And note that among Student Six she is the only one who has at least some magical capabilities.
Gallus – Leadership. As many have noticed, Gallus became essentially a leader of Student Six. So I think his element is an extension of Loyalty and Bravery.
Sandbar – Considerateness. So far Sandbar is a student, who was shown to be the most caring and considerate of his companions. Thus it’s easy to picture him as a new type of Kindness and Healing.
Smolder – Support. Her belonging to the lineage of Generosity and Beauty can be the most counterintuitive. However, note that Smolder was a most supportive figure for Spike in the last two seasons, *generously* providing him points on being a dragon. She was also the one who appreciated and supported Garble's “beatnik” hobby. And she (secretly) likes cute and fancy dresses. So she would be quite fitting in the company of Mistmane and Rarity.
