If you are bored and have pony opinions, send a soapbox in! We are low on them again for the first time in a while. As always, these are the opinions of fandom members, not us here at EQD. If you'd like to submit your own soapbox, hit up this post for infos.
Have some headlines:
- Friendship is Magic Miniseries Flurry Heart, Cadance, and Shining Armor
- “Every Little Thing She Does”—Did this episode go too far?
- Have Analysis Channels Just Become Fanfiction?
Friendship is Magic Miniseries Flurry Heart, Cadance, and Shining Armor
By Double C
For this miniseries we will talk about Flurry Heart, Cadance, and Shining Armor.
You know it would have been interesting of what Cadance and Armor would do without the Mane 6, Celestia, and Luna all the time. Also if there was a good reason for FIM to continue it’s seeing Flurry grow up from being the cutie baby to being the ruler of the Crystal Empire.
What I would like to see is Flurry bonding with her adopted uncle Spike since we never see the two interact. I can see Flurry being much like use fans of the questions about his origin and purpose. I doubt that she, along with Luster Dawn, ever got to hatch a dragon so she would ask why Celestia gave Twilight a dragon if no one else gets their own. I believe Flurry would not ask that question since Twilight, the other Mane 6, nor the CMC would ask. When it comes to their life purpose, both Flurry and Spike are in my opinion are victims of their fate since birth. I think this because they never ask for it and felt like it was forced on to them otherwise they were a mistake. That’s why these two would have a good bond with Spike and Flurry helping each other understanding their life purpose. In fact I think Flurry would go to Spike for advice than she would with Twilight.
Besides Flurry, I would also like to see if Spike has either a good or bad relationship with Cadance and Armor. While Armor does see him as his adopted brother after Twilight 7, but it would be good for them to compete in a Brotherhooves Social against others like Thunderlane and Rumble. With Cadance, not much since the two don’t really interacted than much and it could be complex. Princess Spike may have strain their relationship with her blaming Spike for the mess even though she should have shared the blame with him. I can see the two admitting they don’t like each other and have nothing in common. However they were orphaned since infancy for unknown reasons and would help children who were either rejected, abandon, or abused by their parents. This way they would have something do to strengthen their bond as sister-in-law and adopted brother-in-law.
A question that could be explored is will Cadance and Shining give Flurry more siblings? Before her many fans had created OCs children of Cadance and Armor and after her birth they were able to fit Flurry in as the older sister of their OCs. If Flurry did get siblings, it be fun to see how she deals with being an older sister.
If there was one that both the show and comics left out is about Cadence’s adopted parents. Their only mention in two novels which two earth ponies adopted an abended baby Cadance but nothing afterwards. It would have been good to see how proud they are to their adopted daughter, seeing their granddaughter, and interacting with the in-laws. It also be interesting of what they think of Spike as a member of the family.
“Every Little Thing She Does”—Did this episode go too far?
By: Peace Petal
Starlight Glimmer is a controversial character. Certainly this episode contributes to that. However, there are actually several things I like about it. It’s weirdly entertaining to watch the Mane 5 run around doing whatever the hay Starlight says yet still somehow… acting like themselves? The way they normally talk and act still comes through even when they’re mind-controlled. More importantly, I don’t dislike Starlight in this episode. Change is hard. Real people who want to be better don’t just magically become better like Sunset Shimmer did. They fall back into old habits. For Starlight to still be so villainous in Season 6 makes it more meaningful that she finally is a good friend in later seasons.
The problem with the episode isn’t Starlight herself but the fact that she got off too easy. Maybe I need to clarify why I think what Starlight did in this episode is tremendously evil. The way I see it, mind control is an absolute disregard for the very essence of a person. The assailant takes possession by force of the most deeply personal belonging the victim has, their mind. Additionally, Starlight did it for entirely selfish reasons—to skip friendship lessons and impress Twilight. Add that to the fact that she made the Mane 5 do things that were against their personal codes—burning a cake and disturbing spiders—and maybe you start to see why it ticks me off that the episode ends without so much as a slap on the wrist.
I’m not saying Twilight should have punished Starlight. That’s not the pony way, and it doesn’t really change anything. The problem is that the Mane 5 themselves don’t even care about what Starlight did. The only one who seemed bothered by the fact that Starlight had mind-controlled them was Pinkie of all ponies. The others were mostly just complaining about the headache. At the end of the episode, they’re all just chillaxing like nothing ever happened. But if I were one of the Mane 5, I would have been “chillaxing” with one eye open towards Starlight for the next several months. The trust between the Mane 5 and Starlight should have been shattered.
To do this story properly, they would have needed to end the episode rather bitterly, with Starlight apologizing and the Mane 5 reacting with suspicion. Then there needed to be a follow-up episode where Starlight repairs her relationships with them. I’m not saying Starlight shouldn’t have been forgiven. She truly was sorry, and anyone who is genuinely sorry should be forgiven. But it needed time. Trust is something you earn, not something you have a right to.
As I mentioned in the beginning, there are things about this episode that I enjoy. But the whole premise of the episode is deeply flawed, relying on instant forgiveness of a huge violation. To really treat Starlight’s actions with the seriousness they deserved would have been… heavy. But the fact that they treated her actions so lightly makes it far worse. This episode comes dangerously close to changing the subtitle of the show to Friendship is Tolerance of Abuse.
Have Analysis Channels Just Become Fanfiction?
By: Polax
There are still quite a few analyzers over on Youtube still exploring My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. With the show long over and manyt things already explored, there is a growing trend of simply making things up and building videos about it. Really this seems to be the only thing people do now. They make up a crazy theory, build a video around it based on a tiny object, put a clickbaity thumbnail and title, and all the kids click it.
I don't really have a problem with it, but I think we should just call it what it is. It's fanfiction at this point. Very little of their theories actually hold up to any kind of scrutiny.
The problem is when it leaks over into G5, and suddenly people on discord are going on and on about obviously ridiculous theories because a friend of a friend told them it's all real when the actual source was just a dumb clickbait video.
Anyway hopefully we can discern the two in the future. Especially if people out there with bad intentions take over the idea.
