Last night, I had a conversation with a common brony, who asked me why do I believe season one of MLP under Faust was better than the seasons that came after.

First I replied that Faust's vision was for those in need: children, not adults, who needed the lessons of friendship because life is not equal when it comes to handing out love.

He asked me why does it matter so much for MLP; if I don't like it, why don't I just follow some other cartoon?
To this I replied that as far as I have researched, it has been twenty nine years since the last time a cartoon tried to teach real life lessons to children, and in those times cartoons made an example of what not to do, but only in the sense of totalitarian demands that amounted to “If you do this, it will be bad” they rarely ever touched upon the causes of these things and never gave a solution to defuse the situation if one finds themselves in it. Even if one were to follow these demands, if they ever slipped up they would never admit to themselves that they are the cause of the problem because according to these old dogmas there are no solutions but to ride out the spiral of pain, in this belief system it is better to believe that one is a victim rather than accept that they brought these troubles upon themselves.

Faust's intention was to teach an understanding of real personalities. In view points her episodes go over each perspective. From one perspective there is green light cast on a situation making it look green, from another perspective there is red light making one part look green the other red, and from a third perspective comes blue light and together as white light, we see the true nature of whatever is shown. From this one learns that if someone has hurt you it does not mean that they are always an unforgivable monster who should be treated as such, but that people make mistakes or they think so differently from you, that they don't realize what they are doing is hurtful, but equally so, you can be so different from another that what you do hurts someone else. Equestria and the ponies within it were designed to be beautiful to fulfill the need within people that calls out for friendship and inspire people to understand what they could gain by working toward friendships with real people.

He then asked me if I actually believe children can see the depth of these lessons since they are children with short attention spans and little care to the meaning of anything.
To this I replied that not all need the lessons that are presented – some have friendship and others have contentment, but to the ones who have neither, life exists with a feeling that something is missing. To these children, it would be as if they stopped seeing the color pink, not that they do not know what pink is; they would know the word, they would remember seeing it, but it would seem that all pink things have left the place where they live. If they should stumble upon something like a painting that is pink, it would seem to them to be the most mysterious and beautiful thing in life because it is rare. If they tried to tell others about its uniqueness, those others would see the painting but not it's uniqueness. Seeing it as something special, that child would stare into the painting and eventually find a hidden meaning, a hidden message, a hidden truth. They could try to point this out to others, but because others believe that they already know the painting, they would not see this hidden depth. This is the very definition of arcane, another word for magic: “that which is, yet unseen”. So not only would one in need see this message, but they would come to know it better than one who thinks they know it.

He then asked me why am I unhappy since season one episodes have not gone off the air but are played with the newer ones. Surely, those who I thought needed this magic would see it.
I asked him to imagine someone wandering alone in a desert, thirstily they come to an abandoned store, and there they find odd thickly sealed bottles labeled water but are not see through, the person fights off all of the plastic that seals the bottle and with a hard turn opens the cap. Inside, it is in fact full of water so they drink it. They open the next bottle to find it is empty and a third to find it only has a spoon full. Eventually they find another full bottle. To one who needs in this way, it is better to have 26 full bottles that nourish rather than 260 which may or may not.

To this he retorted that new episodes are entertaining they contain references to pop culture, make fanon canon, they are interesting, and give flavor to the show.
To this I replied that yes, the new episodes are like a stick of gum in a pack where each stick has a different flavor. It is exciting, but it is entertainment more than anything. Whereas the episodes under Faust are like a slice of bread. Their flavor is mild and goes unnoticed by most, but they have much more substance. To those who are hungry a thousand sticks of gum and a thousand bottles of small amounts of water are not as meaningful as a loaf of bread and a few full bottles. People often fail to notice hunger of the soul, but one who is well fed of the body and not of the soul, will eventually fade away as though there is no difference.

Lastly, he asked me how I can be so sure of my theory, how can I believe that something so simple as a cartoon can feed the soul, to keep a person out of trouble, to really give them a reason to be a better person as I had suggested.
To this I replied simply: I am living proof.

<applause>

4454810 Thanks for the marvelous text.