Long Term Post

Apologies for the constant inactivities these last few years, It has been a rough series for the last five years, between covid and work, among other things, I had lost my creative spark for the MLP fandom, though the later loss of fevor for writing has been largely in part of my blatant dislike for how the show handled itself towards the end of Season 3 and onwards. While I enjoyed the amount of world building and events that had occured throughout the series as a whole, as well as predicting a number of changes that would occur within the show years before it occured, there has been a naggling thorn in my side that only grew worse and worse over the years until I became completely done with the show writers.

Namely; the handling of the Princess side of Twilight Sparkle.

Season 3's end was as far as I was concerned; was where the show took a serious dip with the subject of species and their representation within the show. With strange one off notable characters, filled with their own enjoyable lore and links back to normal mythology, there was an issue present in that Twilight Sparkle became an Alicorn, of whom, the only ever addressed representations are ALL royalty. Yet, while people like Celestia, Luna, and Cadence go around, they get the whole song and dance figuratively speaking accompanied with royals, such as bows, people being more formal than normal, etc. Not a single person, pony or otherwise, seems to go 'Hey isn't that an alicorn and thus, a member of royalty?' and treat Twilight Sparkle; nor her national friends with any sort of the fevor that one might expect from multi-time national heroes. The Princess aspect of Twilights role was pretty much thrown off to the side, in favor of continuing the status quo, when we could of had numerous chances for Twilight to have an arc of how hard it was for members of a Feudal royalty system to find and earn more true friends, and how being in power both has its benefits and downsides. Instead, not a single person even blinks at the fact they're having a casual conversation with a monarch.

Might say, 'Oh Ponyville already knows her pers-' what about everywhere else she goes? Even spike got more 'hero worship' drama than any of the main six when he re-visited the crystal empire.

If that was all, I might of stuck around a bit longer, but then came Twilight Sparkle version 2, 3, and 4, in a multiversal bad girl, a re-colored extreme nerd twi, and the largest issue, Starlight Glimmer. Whose plan for 'total equality' was shunned by everyone involved; and later became the shows replacement Twilight Sparkle to retread the old grounds as Twilight herself was getting too wise to repeat the old mistakes.

Mistakes that Twilight then did by pretty much enacting villain Starlights arc of ripping everything magic out of equestria to start the newest series with their own strangely silicon looking 3-d horses for the new show; with all the horrible implications equatable if we went back to the medieval era all at once for logistics with no warning. Pegasai ripped out of their cloud cities, Unicorns unable to do their mainstay of magic, earth ponies without their agricultural magic that was eluded with, the amount of devastation that would cause would be horrifying. The renactment of Starlight's original plan with none of the finesse that at least Starlight had the patience to get things functioning first was my final straw with how they treated Twilight over the years. Numerous other small things slowly added up, but that was the largest sour taste in my mouth.

Of the other members of the main six, the only one I can think of who had any other sort of change or growth was Fluttershy. who was handled fairly well, all things considered, with a slow growth of self confidence; while the other four members had practically... No change over the years. Yes, Rainbow Dash became a wonderbolt, but they didn't really 'change' from being a semi-reckless Tomboy. Rarity achieved her dreams of becoming a botique line of fashion across multiple locations, but the sudden stress of managing two stores instead of one did absolutely nothing to her as a person. Applejack and Pinkie Pie are pretty much the same exact person they started as, and the show denied Applejack growth pretty visibly, favoring tradition hard over progress when they could of made the point during the apple-cider making competition between the Apple family and Flim/Flam (Would of loved a follow up regarding that they're STILL going to have problems with cider season the following year; when the invention they made could of helped make their lives easier. Given another episode was dedicated to getting Applejack to break time-wasting habits to begin with; this feels at odds).

The show still had its highlights, (Any episode with Discord was a joy, as were villain episodes and the movie with the stormking in it.), but overall I was left more or less, upset when a friend introduced me to the later ending seasons of the show, and what happened when the next generation of ponies took over to hear just how far Twilight had fallen from her own ideals as the princess of (The magic of) friendship.

So as a result, I'll be formally leaving the fandom rather than remaining silent, and making a few posts on what I had planned before quitting this, as I am apologetic to having my readers be left hanging on my incomplete written works; I'd rather begin writing my own series than keep up the pony writing, as the constant use of pony phrases and horse puns keep reminding me of the aspects of the show that I need some distance from. Perhaps as the new show gets over the hurdle that will be explaining Twilight Sparkle away, I am also massively annoyed at Hasbro given its more recent actions regarding Dungeons and Dragons (Search the WOTC/D&D mass layoff this holiday season; words can't describe the alarm I had on that.), and taking a step even further away from their future products in light to the recent events.

If you're still around and reading this, thank you for your viewership, and I will be making a link to my newest story once I'm done filling out the outlines I'm planning for it; and get a few chapters underway on the Royal Road.

Yours Sincerely, Irid.