I've noticed a disturbing trend since February 16 on FIMFiction. Good writers (And I mean really good) have been shoehorning Magical Mystery Cure, Starswirl's notebook, and sudden, inexplicable Twilicorn into their already-established storylines, for the express purpose of keeping it 'canon'. It derails the current arc, forgetting the basis of the story in it's entirety, and puts the spotlight on Twilight's ascension, even if she wasn't in the story to begin with, focusing on one of two things- how oh-so-special and better than everyone she now is and what her new duties will be and how she'll be so busy busy busy, or how she hates Celestia and Luna for turning her immortal without her consent and forcing her to get used to the idea of never having mortal friends or lovers again. In short, people compromise their integrity as writers to either heap on drama out of freaking nowhere, or vicariously stroke Tara Strong's already Texas-sized ego.

It pisses me off to no end.

Let's make one thing absolutely clear. I am not poo-pooing the CONCEPT of Twilight as an Alicorn. Lauren herself said that she planned on having Twilight become a princess- if she even added another Alicorn AT ALL- and Celestia was supposed to be shown as mortal at some point (She simply lived as long as she did to wait for Nightmare Moon, so that the bearers of the elements would have some guidance). Even I plan to have her (temporarily-except-not-really) become an Alicorn in my fic (More on that later). But for god's sake, Hasbro/Larson/McCarthy/ WHOEVER has/have absolutely no clue how to make a good T.V. show. Or if they did, they've forgotten. They tacked on the ascension as AN AFTERTHOUGHT to a truly horrendous and slapjack musical.

Something like ascending to godhood deserves its own feature-length movie as a punctuation to several (at least 5) great seasons, not the last five minutes of an episode that retcons the Cutie Mark Crusaders' goal in life, even if they plan to examine it further in the 2-part opener of season 4 (Which, even though it has already been paid for and even ANNOUNCED, may never see the light of day, if DHX gets their wish, which they very well could).

They didn't put the time, effort, care, or forethought into this that it deserved. They blew all their time and money on the massive marketing campaign, tossed whatever fandom nods into the episode as they could to candy-coat the fact that they just didn't care about Lauren's original vision, and piled on songs to hide the fact that there wasn't any actual CONTENT to the episode beyond the five minutes of ascension.

And when I see brilliant writers like GeodesicDragon haphazardly wedge such shitty writing into their VERY good fics, it just makes me lose all respect for them. Which brings me back to my own writing: if you're going to have a Twilicorn arc, MAKE IT YOUR OWN! Playing 'follow the leader' is a good example of the blind leading the blind. Make it a long and extensive process, examine the emotional aspect of it- not just from the mane 6, but from the other princesses' points of view, too- and for the love of Optimus, Celestia, Luna and Bhudda, GIVE TWILIGHT A CHOICE IN THE MATTER. Don't have her just blindly accept it because 'Celestia says so'. That's just lazy.

Also don't make Starswirl's notebook the origin of her ascension. Giving her a shortcut to apotheosis is insulting by itself, but the way the conflict was solved is a massive plot hole. It  insinuates that Rainbow Dash would never fly again, Rarity would go nude the rest of her life, Fluttershy would NEVER EVER come across another animal, Applejack would never eat at or look at another apple, and most depressingly, that Pinkie's family would just accept that their daughter was back to being a sourpuss after doing so much to lift their spirits; that they wouldn't even THINK to give her a party to cheer her up. Given time, the entire plot most likely would have resolved itself. Twilight didn't magic them into remembering, she just said "You do this, she does that, VIOLA! YOU'RE BACK TO NORMAL!" And if writing prose turns one into an immortal god, Zecora should be the thrice-damned Ubermensch (I don't know if that's spelled right).

This is a fan fiction website. It is where we can have our ponies build up there already-glorious and wonder-filled world, or have  them explore the intricacies and connections of their friends and family, right at home. They might even meet new friends (and new species) along the way. But for goodness sake, don't just rehash episodes so your OC's can give commentary. That's perilously close to MST3K, which is actually grounds for removal, if I'm remembering the AUP correctly.

Alright, I've bitched enough, back to your ponies with you.