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:
- Why Should Sunset Choose Between Worlds?
- Season 10 Comic Idea: Rainbow Dash and the Wonderbolts vs. Relevance
- Sci-Twi: How the Rainbooms and friendship transformed her
- What Made Cozy Glow Turn So Villainous
- Thoughts on Cozy Glow and Her Reformation.
Get the articles below!
Why Should Sunset Choose Between Worlds?
By: DrakeyC
It's been a staple plotline for years in the fandom to address the issue of Sunset's future - will she stay in the human world or return to Equestria? I have a better question - why does she have to choose?
The portal is open continuously and we've no reason to think it can't stay that way indefinitely. Why can't Sunset maintain a life in both worlds? Is it all that different from commuting to work by bus every day? She can wake up in the human world, pop through the portal to work at Canterlot castle with Twilight or maybe teach at the School of Friendship, hang out there for a bit, then come back through the portal and go back to her apartment for the evening. Or, the alternative - Sunset lives in Equestria and works in the human world. Either way is plausible.
The only hurdle is the need for human money to support herself, but we've seen certain enchanted objects like the journal can be transported between worlds safely. I'm sure that between Twilight, Sunset, and all their magically gifted friends like Starlight and Sunburst, they can figure out a way for Sunset to take her salary in bits she'd get from a job in Equestria back through the portal and somehow convert it to human money or some precious metal she could cash in. If she can take gemstones through the portal, with how plentiful they are in Equestria, Sunset could live an extremely comfortable life in the human world. Same goes for working in the human world and taking her money back to Equestria with her.
The only obstacle to this is the idea of commuting to and from the portal in either world. But in the human world Sunset has a motorcycle, and in Equestria she's a unicorn who can teleport; she can surely make it work. And in Equestria the mirror is mobile, just relocate it if she needs that easier access to wherever she needs to go.
Considering she has ongoing relationships on both sides of the portal, Sunset balancing a life in both worlds makes more sense than having to choose. She can maintain her friendships with the Humane Six while still regularly seeing Twilight, Starlight, and Celestia, she can pursue interests and hobbies in either world as she likes, and if she decides one day she does want to stay in one world on a long-term basis, who says it needs to be permanent?
I think it's a far more interesting to envision a future where Sunset comes and goes between worlds freely, maintaining a life between her human and pony friends, without having to make a commitment to one side or the other.
Season 10 Comic Idea: Rainbow Dash and the Wonderbolts vs. Relevance
by ShadowWriter45
A while back, I talked about the Washouts being a great competition for the Wonderbolts in terms of relevancy in Equestria. However, I want to take a step further in that direction because of the landscape that season 9 left for us; specifically the future we saw for RD in The Last Problem. It's implied that she's the leader of the Wonderbolts or at least a senior member who is in charge in some form or fashion. I think what we should see in the season 10 comic is Spitfire grooming her into that leadership role since she may want to retire at some point and leave the Wonderbolts to her. At the same time, I want to see RD facing the biggest challenge that the Wonderbolts (so far as we know) never truly faced: Staying Relevent.
When I mean relevent, I mean I want more flight teams to appear in Equestria;not just pegasi teams but dragons, hippogriphs, changelings, griffins, and any other flight related creatures that we didn't see in the future of Equestria. Have some of these teams rise up anywhere and indirectly challange the Wonderbolts with maybe a few chanllenging them directly. Have them notice this when there aren't many ponies in Wonderbolt Academy. Not only that but have ponies who were fans of the Wonderbolts no longer become fans anymore. The Washouts episode showed how she liked the Washouts so it would be wise to have something similar to her but RD would shack it off for a while but other Wonderbolts would feel the effects and it makes her care.
However, the conflict of this idea would need an actual, noticable antagonist for this battle and the best one to lead this would be: Wind Rider. If I had to give his team a name it would be the Shadowbolts just because of the familarity but the idea would be that he would lead the charge of a team that would make it clear that the Wonderbolts are obsolete and everycreature should move on from them. It would work for a while and RD would have to figure out a way to prove that the Wonderbolts are still relevant and they can keep up in the growing Equestria.
As to who would help her with this problem, I would go with not only Spitfire but also Sky Stinger, Vapor Trail, Soarin, and Lightning Dust. Sky Stinger and Vapor Trail would reperesent the ones who believe in the Wonderbolts and follow them to the end. Lightning Dust, despite what people may think of her, can help RD realize that there are ways for the Wonderbolts to continue by taking what they do now and going a step further; have them break their limits that they put on themselves and keep up in the growing Equestria when it comes to the flight competition. This also might help people get the "redemption" that she should have gotten but in her own way. I put redemption in quotations because I feel that Lightning Dust is fine as she is now and doesn't really need that persay. If anything, she and RD are very similar regardless of the character developement RD has gotten over the seasons.
Sci-Twi: How the Rainbooms and friendship transformed her
By: Nephilim Rider
Sci-Twi is the Twilight version of Equestria Girls introduced to us in 2014 at the end of Rainbow Rocks. He finally made an appearance on Friendship Games, showing us how difficult his life is without the magic of friendship and even more so when he transformed into Midnight Sparkle. They gave me the chance to go to the screen and hug her to her rescue, seriously. Luckily Sunset and the girls were there to save her!
This is how Sci-Twi learned about true friendship and her transfer to Canterlot High, the best decision of all. Why? Because she changes for the better!!!
Sci-Twi's role, inner challenge and overcoming in Legend of Everfree. As she went on to join the humane seven and during specials, shorts and the seasons, she changed her hairstyle and clothes (she became so pretty!), she became more open, expressive, happy, optimistic, she has a beautiful smile and forged a real bond with friends who appreciate her, i highlighted Sunset as the closest bond (to the point of shipping), she had great times, adventures and journeys with her friends (even to go to Equestria!) and of course she became stronger, together with her friends! She is the living proof that friendship not only changes you, it makes you a better version of yourself, friendship can give you true strength, true bonds and a brighter perception of life.
And im sorry if I talk about Sci-Twi too much, but she is my favorite Equestria Girl after all!
What Made Cozy Glow Turn So Villainous
By: S-Class Destroyer
The Destroyer has returned to deliver another theory, this time revolving around the events leading up to the Season 9 finale and Season 8 as a whole. Though never explored before, today I will be delving into how Cozy Glow became such a chaotic villain in Equestria and so bad that it eventually got her (as well as her evil friends) turned to stone. Though I am solely going to focus on Cozy Glow for today and possibly what made her into such a villainous pony in the first place.
First of all, let’s explore her perceptions on friendship. It is fair to say that villains are not always born bad, but sometimes an event or series of events could be what changed Cozy Glow's ideologies of friendship. When the CMC first met her in the Season 8 episode "Marks for Effort", immediately one would know that Cozy had difficulties in viewing the magic of friendship in the most obvious of light. It could also be said that when Cozy was slightly younger, she must have been isolated by the other fillies around her which would make her miss out on the true meaning of friendship if she is unable to adhere to any relationships previously. It's fairly apparent that her solutions to anypony's problem in the episode 'Marks for Effort' are not exactly perfect yet do not end up in disaster; she obviously believed that slight imperfections seemed like catastrophes such as the sprinkle shakers for Mrs. Cake. Even though no one was mad at her; it would still get her so worked up about it. Furthermore, the fact that she failed her friendship test on purpose, goes to show that she often wants her own right of way but in the cost of others which is often not as thought out at first; albeit: the CMC being unable to attend Twilight's School of Friendship no more. As a result, Cozy got more spoilt as she most desperately wanted to take control of the school in order to get her own right of way since she clearly had disregard the way that Twilight was running the school in the first place. Cozy having difficulty in her classes in the first place could directly imply that she wanted it to be run in her own way just to get what she wanted so that there would be no worries in the future. Nevertheless, being dissatisfied with her banishment in the Season 8 finale; would later then team up with Tirek and Chrysalis to take back what they believe is theirs.
Thoughts on Cozy Glow and Her Reformation
By: A Shy Brony
Does Cozy Glow deserve reformation? This simple question seems to spark quite the debate in the fandom. From what I’ve seen, it seems like you have to either support Cozy’s reformation strongly, or be strongly against it. For me however, I find my stance is more of a middle ground approach. I do believe Cozy should have be offered an attempt at reformation, but whether she accepts it is up to her.
The main reason I believe Cozy deserves a chance is because it’s been a common theme throughout FiM to reform characters. From the minor troublemakers like Babs Seed or Gilda, to the major villains like Discord or Starlight, almost every antagonist has been offered a chance to reform. Even Chrysalis was offered a chance by Starlight to be better, remember? Indeed, the only major villains I can think of who weren’t offered a chance to reform were Tirek, Sombra, and Cozy Glow. It seems odd that after years of reformations, the heroes of Equestria would decide to just toss a child into Tartarus, without even offering a chance to reform.
But I don’t think Cozy Glow needs to be reformed like some people seem to want. Because ultimately, it’s up to the antagonists themselves to make the decision to reform. Luna, Discord, Babs Seed, Gilda, Diamond Tiara, Starlight Glimmer, they all had to be the one’s to decide whether they wanted to reform or not. And by contrast, Chrysalis decided she would never reform. You can’t force a reformation upon a character, and Starlight and the others realized this, hence why they let Chrysalis go. If Cozy Glow turned down the offer to try and reform, I would be perfectly fine with that.
In all honestly, I actually would prefer Cozy Glow remaining a villain. I personally think she’s the most interesting villain, simply due to how she has no real power of her own, just her great manipulation abilities. In fact Cozy could even use an attempted reformation to her advantage, by pretending to want to be good, then backstabbing everypony again later. Some may say this is why they chose not to reform Cozy at all, but I would counter that Chrysalis could just as easily pretend to be reforming, then betray everypony as well.
So to summarize my thoughts in one neat little paragraph, I’m not a fan of the fact that Cozy never was given an attempt to reform. To me, it’s a complete shift from the sprit of FiM, to reform so many villains, only to toss a child into Tartarus. But I also want any type of reformation attempt to only occur if Cozy agrees to try and be better, or if she accepts just to backstab everyone later. Because reformation is something you can’t force, it’s ultimately up to the antagonist to decide whether they want to be reformed or not.
