This Tree Thing

I don't talk much.

This is kind of ridiculous, given that most people who know me in person are aware I speak almost exclusively in paragraphs (or larger chunks), but it's more or less true.

I'm not much for talking to people I don't know closely, though, which makes for kind of a hard time socially- but that's another matter.

About the tree thing.

This seems to me a lot like the whole Twilicorn thing, and I can only hope it doesn't get so far out of hand.

Unlike myself, I'm going to make this relatively short.

Friendship is Magic is a series about learning how to be a friend. That's pretty much the core of it, but something that doesn't get brought up as much is that 'learning how to be a friend' cannot be separated from 'learning how to be a better person'. To wit- it is growing. Not necessarily growing up, per se, since that implies being juvenile and then being mature. But growth and change are part of life. Nobody is the same person today as they were last year, even if we don't always realize it ourselves. We all learn new things (like it or not) and through that learning, we grow and change. It is impossible to grow without changing.

When Twilight became an alicorn, perhaps it wasn't originally intended by Lauren Faust that this happen. But whether it was part of the starting plan or not, it was a change and a growth- Twilight developed new power, new capability, and reached a new stage in her existence. To wit, she changed as a result of her experiences.

She grew. Symbolized by wings, the use of her Tiara of Magic as an official crown, and being just a little bit taller (she is, you know. Check it out, it's pretty consistent. It's not big, but it's there- if you'll pardon the pun.)

When the Elements of Harmony were returned to the tree and Discord became a (tangential) part of the circle of friends that is the Mane Six, this was more growth. More change, brought about by what had gone before, and symbolized in these new ways.

Since then, Twilight Sparkle has grown more, as have her friends, and in so doing they have changed. The Season Finale began with the big question that so many fans of the show had- 'So now she's a princess, but what does that actually mean?'

And, over the course of the half hour, that question was answered. New information, new choices, new meaning- and new changes.

I doubt that fans of any sort will be able to fully escape the idea that Twilight Sparkle's new home- like the sparkly, streak-maned rainbow-powered pony forms- were created to sell new toys. And that's alright, because guess what? Hasbro is a business, and they are a business that provides a product. If that product stagnates, then they don't make money. Businesses that don't make money don't survive in the economy.

The thing is, it's pretty clear that the people working on Friendship is Magic don't only have that in mind when they create the show. Twilight is a princess, and that's part of her growth. She's choosing her place, as defined by what's happened to her and her own reactions to it- had she not taken up the task of handling the alicorn magic, she would not have made the choice to put everything at risk, which was what resulted in the destruction of the tree. Had she not stood up to Tirek, on the basis of listening to her friends' pleas to save Equestria further harm rather than do what she could to rescue them, it would not have had the same result, and she likely would not have had the chance to pursue a quaternarchal position from Ponyville, no matter whether or not Tirek was eventually defeated. She made the choice, and she grew from that choice.

Thus, symbolically, she graduated from a pleasantly warm oak tree library to a crystalline tree-based palace.

This stuff means something.

And the fact that it means something is absolutely amazing to me.

Like it or not, the world we live in today is too often completely dominated by business, economic, and monetary concerns. By choosing to replace the oak tree entirely with Twilight's new castle, Hasbro's creative team has opted to, rather than create only one-off product opportunities just to allow the products to be created, integrate new products into the story as meaningful and persistent parts of what's going on.

I loved the oak tree library. I still love it. I have no problem with anyone- pony or otherwise- choosing to write fanfiction in which the tree somehow remains or regrows.

But I beg of you, don't have the attitude that the FiM creative team was somehow 'wrong' to replace it with something new.

Please don't think of it as one thing is destroyed and another is created. Both the library and the palace occupy the same position- not necessarily geographically, but as a story element- they are a symbol of who and what Twilight Sparkle is as a person (imaginary though she may be) and to refuse this growth from quiet, self-obscuring home to grand, stand-out estate is to reject part of what stands Friendship is Magic apart from many other cartoon series- with or without product lines in place.

Be better than that. Twilight Sparkle would. And don't you want to be like her?

Thanks for listening to me. Go have a tasty salad (greenery or fruit, your choice). It's good for you and it'll make you feel better.

Be well,
Meandering Road

P.S.- I know this doesn't seem short. Trust me, it is, I could have gone on a lot longer.