Okay, so something happens on the show. That makes it canon.

Often, fanfic writers believe this has some bearing on the stories they're writing, and they feel they need to drop their story because it's suddenly 'wrong'.

Why?

The whole point of a fanfic is to write a story that didn't happen - who gives a shit if 'the show doesn't back it up'?

2314157
Someone gets it.

2314157

2314157 KnightMysterio takes this to heart with his fic; he adds the latest canon to his latest chapters whilst simultaneously carrying out his own fanon concept

2314157
this dude deserves a cookie!
Find him a cookie!

2314157 someone should make a loop of angel bunny giggling.

2314157 Well some people like to write stories in a believable way. As in

"Yeah this probably didn't happen in cannon, but I can make it seem like it did"

Basically a way to flex the old creativity muscle of trying to work in fanon things into canon. Like Rarity and Applejack secretly dating. Doesn't break canon, just adds to it.

2314157 I've quoted you in my blog, good work

2314157
Exactly! The whole reason I read fanfiction is because I want to see stuff that I know will probably never happen in the show.

2314161

Well, yeah. Look at it this way: it's impossible for a human to fly unassisted. That's fact.

But that doesn't mean you can't dream you can fly.

2314157 Thank you. You just explained how i have felt about canon all along.

2314167 ... You sneaky sonovabitch, I thought you died or something.

2314244

Fanfic is supposed to mean "What if?" not "What is."

2314327 ... You gave yourself away...

... LOGAN.

2314157

I'm going to have to disagree with you, which is brilliantly stupid, given that you have 11 upvotes, but here goes nothing;

Canon is important, because this is fanfiction. Our work is supposed to be a derivative of the show. Yes, you can ignore certain things and still call your work fanfiction, but there's a line drawn in the sand, a limit to the amount of canon you can ignore, beyond which your work is no longer fanfiction; it's just independent fiction that happens to reference other fiction.

Another way of putting it; in fanfiction, characterization is key. If I'm writing something for Fluttershy, I want the world to believe that what she's doing is something Fluttershy would do. If I ignore canon, and make her do something woefully incompatible with her in-show behavior, then she isn't Fluttershy anymore, she's just an OC that looks like Fluttershy and has the same name, which is just weak.

2314157

2314340

Oh yeah; characterisation, sure, but anything else should be fair game.

2314368

anything else should be fair game.

Most things that happen build characterization for one character or another. Very few events have no bearing on the personality of some pony or another.

...and whomever downvoted Reverse Clopper really shouldn't have; having an opposing viewpoint isn't and should never be a punishable offence.

2314412

I thank you for your respectful means of discourse, sir.

2314407

If you're clever enough, you can find a way for a character to do something they generally wouldn't do, but in such a way that you could see it happening.

Being out of character in character, so to speak.

2314157 I mostly agree with this, with the caveat that a story often needs to have it's roots in canon, but can then grow in any direction that makes sense for the plot. And it doesn't have to be rooted in canon in general; you could put it at a certain point and do something like "This story takes place before the events of episode whatever" and then have it branch off from canon there. Case in point, my own ongoing story was started before Twilicorn was a thing, and there's no reason for me to shoehorn that in. I still consider my story to be based on canon, but that doesn't mean that I need adhere to every single development.

And on a side note, the thing I like about writing fanfic is the challenge of trying to fit something new into the existing framework without disturbing it too much.

2314157

You spoke the words I have followed since I first started writing fanfiction so many years ago.
For that I love you!

2314496

Exactly; you can have as much truth in it as you want: if you want Twilight to have never become a princess and having just gone with her life, do it.

As long as she still 'feels' like Twilight, who cares?

2314494

True, but I feel that to really pull that off well, you have to pay even closer attention to their canon behavior to pick out the subtle quirks that can drive them in odd directions.

I think that the cause of the discordance here is that I'm a scientist by trade, so my way of being creative involves trying to fit things into a preexisting framework by making the absolute minimum number of alterations to it, whereas most people here are used to more fluid, holistic, constructs, in which a bunch of things can be moved around at will. If my 'hypothesis' strays too far from explaining the 'data', I'm overwhelmed with a feeling of failure, but most people just don't experience things in that way.

2314618

Well, as an example (which, ironically enough, involves using canon) look at 'Dragonshy'. Fluttershy is absolutely terrified of the dragon, but when her friends are put in danger she practically threatens to kick it's ass because her friends are put in danger.

She's out of character, but for a completely believable reason.

2314157 Shall I bring in the thread that I made in the "Author Support" group?
I happen to have presented myself as a bloody hard on jackass a few months back, during which I unleashed a full ranting thread upon the denziens of the group.

I totaled around eleven negatives on the initial comment before some mod came and crashed the party.

I happen to have a copy of it on my hard drive.

I can show it to present a few fine arguments for your point.
That is, if I can somehow figure out how to upload a full Firefox HTML webpage page.

2314735

Go for it.

2314753 I would, but unless you have an idea on how I can upload the webpage I downloaded onto my Firefox, I will be hard pressed to do anything but give quotations in a painfully tedious manner.

2314760

Maybe a series of screenshots?

I do feel that canon should generally be followed, since we're are writing fan-fic for the show. But at the same time, part of why fan-fic exists is to explore things that can't happen in canon (like most every story in this group). Plus there's a definite merit in exploring how things would change if canon were different. So, basically, canon should be followed unless there's a good reason to not follow it.

That said, feeling the need to drop a story because it is suddenly wrong, well, that I find rather silly. Waste of all the effort so far. Really, the longer the show goes on, the more fan-fics that attempt to do any world building will conflict with canon anyway.

2314783
...

I hate to sound like a retarded kitten that was half drowned in a sea of manure, but how would you propose I go about this?

Too lazy to Google a way how. I just out Google'ed myself trying to search something for hours, only to come up empty.

Now I feel even one click will drive me over the edge over to Oblivion Prison in Luna's Moon Prison-....
Schissce, even my grammar is suffering from that mental relapse.

2314820

Hit 'print screen' to copy what's currently there, open your paint program, hit CTRL-V to paste it and then save it as an image. Rinse and repeat until you have all the shots you need and then put them on tinypic and post the links for each image here.

2314157

The whole point of a fanfic is to write a story that didn't happen - who gives a shit if 'the show doesn't back it up'?

Because continuity is a nice thing to have? I mean, some of us are more purist than others but if I wanted to be just making stuff up, I have tons of original projects I could work on. When I'm writing fanfiction, I want to create something that is as consistent as possible with the work I'm imitating.

(I make shipping the exception, of course. Obviously I don't care about canon when I'm shipping Rarijack or whatever.)

IMO shipping should ideally be done with attention to canon character traits unless this is specifically an AU (and if it is, then the resultant changes in character should be at least implicitly explained). I can easily believe, for instance, that Luna and Twilight fall for each other, but not that this just takes the form of Luna saying "Hi, wanna clop?," Twilight saying "Sure!" and immediately leaping into an insensate explosion of lust. That just does too much violence to the characters as shown on the show -- specifically, Luna is uncertain of her loveability and covers it up with overly formal and dramatic behavior; Twilight is rather obviously sexually inexperienced, and tends to obsessively plan every significant event in her life. They might fall in love or even just have sex, but it wouldn't happen that way.

On the other hand, almost exactly that scene (though hopefully better-written) is plausible for some interpretations of Rainbow Dash's character, because she's brash, rude and impulsive. Brash, rude and impulsive people can act like that, if they meet someone to whom they are strongly attracted. Shy, polite and careful people -- not so much.

2314407

Very few events have no bearing on the personality of some pony or another.

Like most of Season 3.

and a quick comment on

I think that the cause of the discordance here is that I'm a scientist by trade, so my way of being creative involves trying to fit things into a preexisting framework by making the absolute minimum number of alterations to it, whereas most people here are used to more fluid, holistic, constructs, in which a bunch of things can be moved around at will. If my 'hypothesis' strays too far from explaining the 'data', I'm overwhelmed with a feeling of failure, but most people just don't experience things in that way.

It's possible to build a psychological profile, a little chart of personality quarks, and some nit picking on plausible scenarios (since if you think about it everything is possible it's only the plausiblity of it happening at any given point of time. Cases Their Last Day of School [both tweaks Canon, and submits an interesting AU of lesson 0; Fragmented [a lovely peice that explores the psyche of Twilight Sparkle in an external setting; and Pinkie Pie the Royal Knight [A Subtle mix of shifting canon into a whole new direction in some parts while totally disregarding it others. An interesting ship.]

Those are just a few examples of ways you could take a more fluid, creative approach while keeping your frame work. Have a good day, and I'm going to give your stories a look over, anyone's you think are best?

2314157

The whole point of a fanfic is to write a story that didn't happen - who gives a shit if 'the show doesn't back it up'?

I partially have to agree with 2314618. Although I don't think that canon is the end all of character developement, it provides a good platform to build off of. A good solid foundation that we as readers can connect with, even if it's only mannerisms or personality. Without some ties to reality (InVerse not IRL), similarities to said characters, or what drew us to those characters to begin with, then that character is no longer that character.

I mean would cupcakes or The Cupcake Chronicles be as hard hitting if they completely ignored Pinkie Pie's character / mentality, even when twisting it to horrible extremes? What about fics that go in their own direction such as Fragmented [shown above]? It has little ties to the show, but does it in away that connects with the characters as a whole. [Not even going to touch HamGravy's Tarnished Silver series.]

Good question though. *Gives cookie*.

2315680

Like most of Season 3.

While S3 didn't provide much new information about the characters, it provided a lot of affirmation. There were more occurrences of characters doing what we expect them to. Which, running back to my scientism, can be considered in terms of 'reproducibility of data' and 'statstical significance'. It means more if I can get the same result twice than it does to see it once.

anyone's you think are best?

Their all very intensely sexual, running between 25% and 50% sex by word-count, but if that doesn't scare you away, you should only take 'Pants' and 'The Mare of Her Dreams' seriously. The other two use exaggerated caricatures and are pretty much meant as pure comedy, and 'THM6PFS4' was just a crappy vent piece.

Yes, the name of the site has the word "fiction" in it after all.
I don't see how people forget that.

2315847

I don't think S3 provided affirmation. Apple Familiy Renion ignored canon hints dropped in S1, and S2; Ignored their own timeline [100 moons = 8.1 years. Yet they had an Apple Family Reunion in S1.]; Spike at your Service ignored Spike's base personality, acted not only OOC but as a morron with no real reason for existing. Especially over so many other important events (such as we never see Sweetie when she started learning magic). Magic Mystery Cure completely ignored canon set up by the show in Cutie Mark Chronicles. Including the reason behind the Cutie Marks, what triggered them, and for alot of them what they stand for. I've ranted about that subject many times before (especially in Journeys) so I might skip that for this post.

It was shoddily done, I have no idea in how it could possibly act "how we expect them too" since before S3 (well technically two episodes in S2) Rainbow Dash had a lot of negative comments about her and all of them desereved. So she while it was "character developement" in the Wonderbolts didn't have a lot of lead up to it. It basically happened, from uber dyke, super b17ch, rarely if ever loyal to her friends other than when the readers need to make her look loyal enough in random episodes; to saves her friends, super moral, puts others above her own agenda, anti- Lightning Dust (who is a personality copy of Rainbow Dash before that episode magically transformed her).

Pinkie Pie's episodes were inconsequential beyond the Smile Song (and the rest of that episode was dead air), and the Too Many Pinkie Pies while full of Fridge Horror, had no reason for existing. Didn't add to the character, build the story, or give anything of mental or emotional value.

99% of the entire season was wasteful filler that offered nothing to the series or the story. While ignoring previously given Canon, screwing around with their own continuity, and was just swill. Ignoring possible story line, and threads that could've given plenty of potential growth and was wasted. But every show is allowed at least 2 utter flops. Season 3 was the <1249 that was shoved down the populaces throats, so that's one flop down. S4 so far is at least interesting, and has potential.

2319270

100 moons = 8.1 years

There are only 20 days in an Equestrian month (Check Twi's calendar), so it's actually 5.5 years.

Spike at your Service ignored Spike's base personality, acted not only OOC but as a morron with no real reason for existing.

Yeah, but that was a terrible episode about which almost everyone agrees that Merriwether Williams did a terrible job for writing Spike in that episode. It's sort-of non-canon by democratic vote.

Which is really weird, because I'm pretty sure she also wrote Dragon Quest, which is one of the biggest character building stories for him in the series.

(But she also got pretty much everyone else's personalities wrong, too, so I don't know what was up with her on that one. Must've been drunk or something.)

Magic Mystery Cure completely ignored canon set up by the show in Cutie Mark Chronicles. Including the reason behind the Cutie Marks, what triggered them, and for alot of them what they stand for.

I don't see any way in which MMC is incompatible with CMC. The cutie mark is a reflection of the true self, and, in Twilight's words, "it's their true selves that have changed."

"how we expect them too"

If you're going to quote me, you could at least use the same form of 'to' that I did; you made my heart skip a beat there.

Rainbow Dash had a lot of negative comments about her

...About who?

It basically happened, from uber dyke, super b17ch, rarely if ever loyal to her friends other than when the readers need to make her look loyal enough in random episodes; to saves her friends, super moral, puts others above her own agenda, anti- Lightning Dust (who is a personality copy of Rainbow Dash before that episode magically transformed her).

Oh, I guess that last bit was supposed to be about Wonderbolt Academy. You never said so. Anyway, I think you should go back and watch the first two seasons again, I don't think you really got the full spectrum of Rainbow's personality...

Pinkie Pie's episodes were inconsequential beyond the Smile Song (and the rest of that episode was dead air), and the Too Many Pinkie Pies while full of Fridge Horror, had no reason for existing. Didn't add to the character, build the story, or give anything of mental or emotional value.

Actually, I think that A Friend In Deed did a lot for Pinkie's character, and I say that because... That episode made me hate her guts. Seriously. I had always been wary of Pinkie, but after what she did in that serial, I had officially decided that she was my least favorite pony.

But really, there's not a lot to do for Pinkie, anyway. She's a party girl. Her accomplishments are 'being a half-decent baker' and 'making lots of friends', which seem pretty pathetic in light of what the rest of the mane 6 have done with their lives. I like her more now than I did then, and I try to build her up when I can, but within the confines of the show she is just really flat.

Too Many Pinkie Pies didn't add much of anything, but it did fit with pre-existing canon fine. I think at some point during your rant you forgot that we were talking about affirmation of existing canon as well as addition of new canon.

99% of the entire season was wasteful filler that offered nothing to the series or the story. While ignoring previously given Canon, screwing around with their own continuity, and was just swill. Ignoring possible story line, and threads that could've given plenty of potential growth and was wasted. But every show is allowed at least 2 utter flops. Season 3 was the <1249 that was shoved down the populaces throats, so that's one flop down. S4 so far is at least interesting, and has potential.

Again, I'll agree that it added very little, but I must insist that it did a lot of confirmation about what we already know, excluding Spike At Your Service.

(Also, what's a <1249 ?)

2319478

24 Boxes.

Although that could just be lazy drawing. So they might have a normal month structure. Since we never saw an actual calander, or more than one hastily drawn group of boxes to show that Twilight has OCD. But even with 24 mo (and we don't know if they have a 23, and 24 mo. With 20-21 in August. If all months have the same amount of days, or what not.)

8.1 years would've made sense if S1 didn't have one. Since the earliest age was at least Cake Twin age (before or around age 1), which would mean she would've missed it around the age when she was in Manehatten (since biologically she looks around AB's age in S1. Which would make the CMC 8ish.) and would've made AJ 16.3 - 17.X years old in Canon as of S3/S4.

But even if we were to use 5.5 years. They still mess up canon by having a S1 Apple Family Reunion and 3 yrs later having another one. Still show that they disregard their own continuity, or are unable to remember things they say in earlier seasons.

I don't see any way in which MMC is incompatible with CMC. The cutie mark is a reflection of the true self, and, in Twilight's words, "it's their true selves that have changed."

Are you bucking serious? Alright here it goes.

In CMC:

Rainbow Dash challenged her friends bullies to a racing match. Knocking Fluttershy to the ground and when she pushed herself past her limits and achieved the Sonic Rainboom did she get her cutie mark. Representing her need to push herself past her limits and going fast. After finding that showmareship revolving CM, did she put every part of her life in training to join the Wonderbolts with her weather job nothing more than something to earn bits so she could survive between training.

In no way what so ever, In anyway! Does her CM represent her job of weather working. If Rarity had the "destiny behind Rainbow Dash's Cutiemark" she'd be doing sometype of sports, or showmareship. Since Rainbow Dash's special talent isn't in Weather Manipulation. She can do it since it's a natural Pegasi talent that is as much a part of their magic as Leviation is to Unicorns. But everything she's ever done has been flying, training to fly in new ways, and creating ways to impress her idols.

Rarity's Cutie Mark is in finding Gems, it could be argued that her Cutie Mark is about finding hidden beauty. In no way is it about her job. Yes she has a love for fashionista / design and fashion. But that isn't her Destiny, that's her choice. She could've just as easily done jewelery (which she does a little of), or scultping, or any large amount of other jobs with her Cutie Mark's special talent. Fashion work is just what she focuses it on since it's her life long ambition.

If Apple Jack where to be accurate in her representation of the CM she'd have been trying to dig up gems (like Rares spends a large amount of time doing (with Spike's "help" now in days, or a store if the gems are rare enough). And would be failing, or she'd be trying to do the gem placement in clothing that Rarity is known for and failing, or many other gem related work that Rarity's magic is geared to.

Apple Jack's Cutie Mark represents her family (It specifically states that in the CMC episode.). When she saw the Sonic Rainboom pointing to the house. She figured out that she missed her family and that family was the most important thing. It even shows that she gets her 3 apples when her, Granny Smith, and Big Mac hug/nuzzle. Her farm work is an extension of her showing how much family means to her. But in no way is that her Cutie Mark.

If Pinkie Pie's representation were to be accurate. Either the Apple Family would've been her adoptive family like the Cake's are (not actually adoptive, but taken in and seen as a daughter /family). And even then the Apple Family plays their family to their strengths. They wouldn't've put Pinkie Pie in jobs that she couldn't do or would kill the farm. Rather they'd have her cooking / selling / doing the accounts where her natural talent with numbers, memory, and being able to know a customer. That would've been accurate to both the Cutie Mark, and IC actions of the Apple Family.

Pinkie Pie's when she saw the Sonic Rainboom. Was filled with joy, and wanted to spend her life spreading that love and joy to all ponies she met. The party was a fluke and how she wanted to spread that love and joy to others. Since it was as alien to the farm as the Sonic Rainboom's colors. When it became a success she got a CM in responce to the smiles that for the first time touched her families faces.

Jokes, gags, and parties are a means to an end. Not the end itself. Having Flutter's do poorly made gags and jokes was an insult to Pinkie Pie as a character and Fluttershy's intelligence. Even focusing on what the CM is channeled for (parties), doesn't mean jokes and poorly done funny stuff.

Fluttershy's CM was her empathetic connection with animals. She was a caretaker since it was an easy transition since she could talk to the animals and connect with what they needed in a way that surpassed what most Earth Ponies could do. It was almost a good attempt to be accurate with her.

But yeah. They messed up a great premise with horrible writing. If it was done accurately it would've been so much more worse. Especially if they had memories of the other life where such a CM was theirs. It would've had so much drama and character building trying to get them to remember who they used to be. Even if they were failing in what they were supposed to do (succeeding would make more sense, and would've been cooler. But I can get it that they did it as they did.).

If you're going to quote me, you could at least use the same form of 'to' that I did; you made my heart skip a beat there.

I apologize.

Rainbow Dash had a lot of negative comments about her

...About who?

Rainbow Dash.

Oh, I guess that last bit was supposed to be about Wonderbolt Academy. You never said so. Anyway, I think you should go back and watch the first two seasons again, I don't think you really got the full spectrum of Rainbow's personality...

I've watched it 3 times so far front to back. And the comments about her were from new people who watched it, my sister in law (who loves her regardless for the above comments made) and a lot of people I've spoken to. She's mostly a negative / self-centered character with very little to redeem her (there are a few moments yes. But for the most. She's all about her. Hell just look at how she treats her lifelong friend in DragonShy.) But if it wasn't for Fanon she'd be more worse of a pony that Rarity. (Again fanon makes her more of a likable character, as well as shows how in the flapping Tartarus she's the Element of Generosity (in a way that doesn't further her agendas / make her look better to others).

She's a party girl. Her accomplishments are 'being a half-decent baker' and 'making lots of friends', which seem pretty pathetic in light of what the rest of the mane 6 have done with their lives.

Read this. It's her tropes page. There's so much ignored about her such as how much she's been handed The Smart Ball fairly often, and even though she's a ditz. She's been shown to be a Genius in the feild of engineering, as well as a photographic memory.

And while she defines The Cloudcuckoolander Was Right trope she's also handed a large amount of responsibility as a Bunny Ear Lawyer who is Genre Savy (compared to the others who severly lack such savyness). She's a rich and wonderful character (despise the fact that she grew up on a Rock Farm with little to no knowledge of what fun was. Or any real joy or happiness before she was 7/8ish. Missing out on a lot of developmental areas where others already learn how to do socially.

(Also, what's a <1249 ?)

crap

Again, I'll agree that it added very little, but I must insist that it did a lot of confirmation about what we already know, excluding Spike At Your Service.

How did it do any confirmation (as a season)?

2324125

The top four boxes are probably the days of the week; Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. But even if we do go with 24, that's still only 6.5 years.

8.1 years would've made sense if S1 didn't have one.

...Didn't have one of what?

But even if we were to use 5.5 years. They still mess up canon by having a S1 Apple Family Reunion and 3 yrs later having another one. Still show that they disregard their own continuity, or are unable to remember things they say in earlier seasons.

What dictates that the reunion is 3 years after the first one? I've never heard anyone say any such thing.

Okay, you definitely need to go back and watch Cutie Mark Chronicles again, because almost everything you believe about it is wrong.

Rainbow Dash's talent

Do you remember the first time we ever see her character? She makes the claim, 'I can clear this sky in ten seconds flat'. Twilight doesn't believe her, because it seems impossible for a pegasus to do it, but Rainbow pulls it off, because she does an exceptional job at weather manipulation.

Rainbow Dash challenged her friends bullies to a racing match. Knocking Fluttershy to the ground and when she pushed herself past her limits and achieved the Sonic Rainboom did she get her cutie mark. Representing her need to push herself past her limits and going fast. After finding that showmareship revolving CM, did she put every part of her life in training to join the Wonderbolts with her weather job nothing more than something to earn bits so she could survive between training.

There's a difference between what Rainbow believes to be true, what Rainbow says when she's telling a story (remember, she was extremely egotistical in S1), and what is actually true. Rainbow is kind of like the Twilight of pegassi, in that she doesn't have one specific talent -- she's more of a 'pegasus prime' -- she is really good at doing everything that pegassi are known for doing well. She can go fast, she can make rainbows, and she can control weather, and she can do it all really, really, well.

So Rarity acquired Rainbow's true self trait of 'being the ultimate pegasus.' Without wings, she had no choice other than to try weather manipulation. However, her activities were a blend between her own true self and Rainbow's, as she was trying to beautify the weather. "Doesn't my sky look fabulous?"

(Also, it's not fair to blame Fluttershy falling on Rainbow. She was standing in the path of three speeding pegassi.)

Rarity's Cutie Mark is in finding Gems,

Rarity's talent

Rarity's talent is not finding gems. Finding gems is a particular skill she has that helps her apply her talent. Go back and watch her finding the gems;

-She doesn't get her mark when her horn just starts spouting a spell for no reason.
-She doesn't get her mark when she finds the dumb rock.
-She doesn't get her mark when the rock splits open, revealing its beauty.
-She got her mark when her completed costumes were revealed on stage and the audience loved them.

Her talent is beautification of the world; her purposes in life is to make things beautiful so that other ponies can appreciate that beauty. That's why she was idly clipping branches into little leafy statues in Look Before You Sleep. That's why she fixes AJ's hair in It's about Time.

This explains why AJ was trying to make dresses. She wakes up one morning in Rarity's house, obsessed with the idea of making things pretty, but with no outlet except the huge piles of fabric and sewing equipment. There's no family around to speak of with which to express her true self characteristic.

"Nice?! They're meant to be spectacular!"

AJ's talent

If Pinkie Pie's representation were to be accurate. Either the Apple Family would've been her adoptive family like the Cake's are (not actually adoptive, but taken in and seen as a daughter /family). And even then the Apple Family plays their family to their strengths. They wouldn't've put Pinkie Pie in jobs that she couldn't do or would kill the farm. Rather they'd have her cooking / selling / doing the accounts where her natural talent with numbers, memory, and being able to know a customer. That would've been accurate to both the Cutie Mark, and IC actions of the Apple Family.

You are all over the place here, man. If they used Pinkie's strengths, it wouldn't have fit the episode at all. The point is, Pinkie wakes up, feeling like she needs to be a part of the Apple family. Farm life requires everyone to pitch in and carry their weight; being a part of the Apple Family means working hard on the farm. You can't be an Apple girl and just hang out doing math. Part of the point of AJ's story in CMC was that she loved her family, but she couldn't stand the idea of working on an Apple farm her whole life. "Ah didn't wanna spend mah whole life on a muddy old apple farm!"

Later;

"Oh, Ah wonder what Granny Smith and Big Macintosh are up to... Ah bet their apple-buckin' their way through the red-delicious trees. Oh, what Ah wouldn't give for just one bite."

She loved her family, and she knew that being part of her family meant hard farm work.

Pinkie Pie's talent

Pinkie Pie's when she saw the Sonic Rainboom. Was filled with joy, and wanted to spend her life spreading that love and joy to all ponies she met. The party was a fluke and how she wanted to spread that love and joy to others. Since it was as alien to the farm as the Sonic Rainboom's colors. When it became a success she got a CM in responce to the smiles that for the first time touched her families faces.
Jokes, gags, and parties are a means to an end. Not the end itself. Having Flutter's do poorly made gags and jokes was an insult to Pinkie Pie as a character and Fluttershy's intelligence. Even focusing on what the CM is channeled for (parties), doesn't mean jokes and poorly done funny stuff.

You actually managed to get one right, but you need some help understanding Fluttershy's actions in Pinkie's place.

Fluttershy doesn't know how to make ponies happy. She wakes up, knowing nothing except that her purposes is to make ponies happy, and she's got Pinkie's chest full of comedy gear with which to do it. Her crippling social anxiety and lack of practice in cheering ponies up led to her just utilizing weak jokes to try to do it. Notice how she's horribly depressed when her jokes don't work, because her purpose is to make ponies happy, not tell dumb jokes.

If it was done accurately it would've been so much more worse.

...

Rainbow Dash had a lot of negative comments about her

...About who?

Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash has a lot of negative comments about Rainbow Dash? I don't remember that part.

I've watched it 3 times so far front to back. And the comments about her were from new people who watched it, my sister in law (who loves her regardless for the above comments made) and a lot of people I've spoken to. She's mostly a negative / self-centered character with very little to redeem her (there are a few moments yes. But for the most. She's all about her. Hell just look at how she treats her lifelong friend in DragonShy.) But if it wasn't for Fanon she'd be more worse of a pony that Rarity. (Again fanon makes her more of a likable character, as well as shows how in the flapping Tartarus she's the Element of Generosity (in a way that doesn't further her agendas / make her look better to others).

I wasn't telling you to watch Wonderbolt academy again, I was telling you to watch the first two seasons again. You did a terrible job of watching them the first time, apparently.

How did it do any confirmation (as a season)?

Since the only things you actually know about S1 and S2 were spoon-fed to you by TVTropes, I can't imagine you'd agree with me even if I sat here, watched the whole season all the way through, and made a list of all the affirmations as they happened.

Just watch the show. For fuck's sake. Watch the show. Once you've watched every episode ten times, maybe you'll understand. Don't come back until you understand, because talking with you is exhausting because I have to explain every teeny little detail.

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Hell just look at how she treats her lifelong friend in DragonShy.

That's pure fanon. Given how they interact in Dragonshy, how Gilda doesn't seem to know Fluttershy, and Fluttershy's singing about never leaving the ground, Fluttershy not knowing the result of a braggart like Dash's race, and so on, canon on the whole indicates they were not friends as fillies, though obviously they did attend the same summer flight camp.

It's actually a pretty good example of where fans ignore the implications of what canon facts we do know, because the idea of them being friends as fillies is so cute. And given how the show itself tends to ignore some of its own lore at times, it'll no doubt wind up canon at some point for just that reason.

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The AFR being 100 moons ago does seem to clash with what we know from the pilot and the Ticketmaster, even if you speed up the lunar cycle (which could be weekly, for all we know). Plus 100 moons doesn't really make sense from an agricultural standpoint, as a farm family would most likely plan their reunion during downtime, which means that, unless lunar cycles keep the reunion at the same time of year, you wouldn't pick something like 100 moons anyway.

But then, the show is often a bit loose with its lore. According to Twilight, Ponyville has been around for hundreds of years. According to Granny Smith, it hasn't. Nobody knows who Nightmare Moon is in the pilot, yet Nightmare Night is apparently a huge holiday and they've got a freaking statue of her outside town they offer candy to every year. And so on.

The easiest way to get around that is that every X re-unions, they throw a really big one, and the AFR is about the really big one, while the one in the pilot is a more frequent but smaller one.

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 According to Twilight, Ponyville has been around for hundreds of years.  According to Granny Smith, it hasn't. 

I think I can sort of logic my way around that: Being as Twilight would have had to have read up on Winter Wrap-up (as, having spent her life amongst unicorns she had no concrete knowledge concerning other pony types), she noted that it had been celebrated for centuries and came to the flawed conclusion that this meant Ponyville was centuries old in turn.

A lot of these mooks think that Winter Wrap-up 'having been celebrated for centuries' and Granny's family having founded Ponyville equates her having lived for centuries as well,which actually adds weight to my opening statement.

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I go the opposite way with that, that it is Granny Smith who is off, sort of. Twi is the type to research things, and she'd definitely research her new town. Plus with pegasi controlling the weather since before the founding of Equestria, I'd expect Winter Wrap up has been around quite a bit longer than hundreds of years, and the idea of earth ponies suddenly deciding to do it without unicorn magic also doesn't make much sense. That seems more like a frontier tradition, for towns without a unicorn population (which fits with the general idea of unicorns being more urban, while earth ponies are more rural). It also makes more sense for Celestia to want a single family farm set up near a town that could use the food source than in the middle of nowhere, where there aren't even roads. You'd need numerous farms to spring up before a town would be viable.

But Granny Smith isn't entirely wrong. The foundation of the Apple farm coincides with the growth of Ponyville, helping to turn it from a small backwater into the thriving town we see today. And that a lot of this growth came about because of Zap Apple Jam.

That's how I reconcile the two

Of course, the most likely explanation is that it is just a goof from the writers, that nobody remembered a throwaway line from a previous episode.

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In other words, Ponyville was always sort of there, but th Apples were responsible for it becoming an actual town?

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Yup. That way, both Twi and Granny Smith are right, from a certain point of view. The Apples put Ponyville on the map.

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The AFR being 100 moons ago does seem to clash with what we know from the pilot and the Ticketmaster

The space of time between the pilot and the finale was never dictated... Not only that, but there's no evidence that the episodes are in chronological order in the first season, and a couple of episodes actually reference each other in ways that insist that they took place in a different order. It could be that the pilot, Ticket Master, and Best Night Ever are three consecutive weeks, and the rest of the season is two whole years.

One example of episodes that force the sequence to be either rearranged or assumed to be quite long is the occurrence of Fall Weather Friends after Winter Wrap Up. This either means that WWU takes place after FWF, or that an entire year passed in the space of 'Call of the Cutie'.

There are a couple persistent events, like Twilight getting wings, AJ's barn being rebuilt, Shining/Cadence becoming a thing, and Discord being freed, that force episodes to be in a certain order, but seasons 1 & 2 are really hard to arrange.

We only know about four Apple Reunions... One in which Granny Smith was a young/middle-aged adult, one in which AJ was a foal, one in the premier, and one, '100 moons later', in which no visible aging has occurred of any character.

Honestly, the only thing that really supports a short period of time is the Cutie Mark Crusaders. If five years had passed since the premier, they should be awkward teenagers by now. Then again, it's pretty much impossible to know how long their story line has been going. They had their first meaningful appearance in episode 12, but since the episodes seem to be arranged randomly, that could very well be a single year before Twilight got wings.

Let's see...

Okay, they freed Discord. And they seemed to know each other at the time, which means that Call of the Cutie had already happened.

...

But then there's no mention of Discord for the entire rest of season 2, meaning that that plot line took place an indeterminate period of time before Keep Calm and Flutter On, which itself took place an unknown amount of time before Magical Mystery Cure.

So basically, what we know is either that ponies age very slowly, months are very short, or the CMC arc has started recently with respect to Twilight's coronation.

I'm sure all of this has been reasoned out by the writers; there's no doubt in my mind they're doing their best to keep everything consistent.

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I'm sure all of this has been reasoned out by the writers; there's no doubt in my mind they're doing their best to keep everything consistent.

I'd say it is more that this is a show for little kids, especially the first couple of seasons, which would have been mostly written before Bronies became a big factor. There just isn't a huge emphasis on lore, and due to that, it is easy for a single line to get overlooked. They don't spend as much time nitpicking as we do.

Why is the AFR every 100 moons? Because 100 is a nice round number (good for kids; same reason both NMM and Sombra are 1,000 years ago) and sounds like a long time, allowing them to emphasize how big of a deal it is. That's the simplest explanation.

Of course, still fun to try and come up with "rational" theories of how it all fits together.