That Moment When You Hypothesise That the Writing Staff of MLP: FIM Recently Read "Fallout: Equestria" · 3:34pm Feb 2nd, 2014
An epiphany occurred, this morning, when I was answering a call from Mother Nature. I was thinking about the overarching story arc of this season, and something stood out with seeming clarity. That something made me think that a major writer on the staff of this season's writers may have read "Fallout: Equestria".
The arc episodes all seem, at least to me, centered around the element of sacrifice.
The season opener had our mane six all pondering the importance of the Elements of Harmony, with Applejack saying that was the force that kept their friendship strong. However, by the end of the two-parter they had to sacrifice them up in order to save Princesses Celestia and Luna. So we have the initial sacrifice of what was originally thought to be the binding force that kept the six friends together. As it turned out, it was their bonds, not the Elements, that kept their friendship strong.
In the next episodes in the arc, usually indicated by one of the main characters having a rainbow shimmer in their eyes, and/or on some key object, we see the theme of Element as virtue. Kkat explored this theme in "Fallout: Equestria" rather extensively. In the world of "Fallout: Equestria" one had to choose a virtue, usually based on the original Elements of Harmony, in order to retain one's sanity, and not become a savage cannibal Raider. In the story arc of this season, we have seen three of the Mane Six have their Elemental virtue tested, and (to get back to the overarching theme) had to be willing to sacrifice something that could help their established life goal become a reality for the sake of their friendship.
Rarity was the first, surprisingly enough. When she goes to compete against fellow fashinistias in Manehatten, her generous nature is put to the test by a back-stabbing competitor. At first Rarity seems willing to give in, and give up on her generosity in order to win against Suri Polomare. Until she thinks her emulation of Suri's overbearing behavior has cost Rarity her friends. Rarity shows that she is willing to sacrifice winning Fashion Week to keep her friends, and stay true to her virtue of generosity, and ends up winning, anyway. Had not Coco Pommel come forward and told Rarity that she had, indeed, won she would have never known.
Rainbow Dash came next, in a sadly lacking episode that was big on common sports tropes, and fell back upon the Rainbow Ego Dash characterization. Just because the episode had Derpy and cheerleaders doesn't forgive the writers for falling back to poor characterization. Even so, Rainbow's virtue of loyalty was put to the test, when she was offered the chance to compete in the Equestria Games with her idols, the Wonderbolts. From what I have seen of the Episode, she came pretty close to ditching the Ponyville team, which apparently was made up of the scrapings of the bottom of the barrel. Apologies to Fluttershy fans, but what in the hoary horseradished hey is she DOING there, if she's such a poor flier? Bulk Biceps is in entirely the wrong event, because he is obviously a power lifter, not a relay racer. I thought Ponyville had a larger pegasus population, even with the "One event per athlete" rule. In the end, though, after trying a cop-out, Rainbow Dash sacrifices flying with the Wonderbolts, which could have been an "in" to her making the actual Team rather than just going through their academy.
The latest in the arc episodes has Pinkie Pie having to compete with Cheese Sandwich (A stallion who seems just as random and silly as Pinkie herself.) for pride of place as the prominent party pony of the population of Ponyville. Yes, I had to alliterate. Pinkie, who lives to make others laugh, forfeited her chance to headline Rainbow Dash's 'birthaversary', when during the contest to show who was better at being completely random she discovered that Rainbow was not enjoying herself. She showed herself being willing to sacrifice her pride at being Ponyville's personal party planner to remain true to her virtue of laughter, and ended up teaming up with Cheese Sandwich to make Dash's party epic.
So we have the theme of sacrifice, and some of the elements as virtues. Not quite sure how "Magic" can be a virtue, but Kkat never really went into that. However, the idea of the elemental virtues, and magic, being warped and corrupted was explored. So the corruption of the idea of "Magic" could be Twilight's test. I do hope they stick with the interpretation of "Honesty" that's been used for the past three seasons, however. Applejack being tempted to lie, rather than being tempted to not be true to herself, would be a royal cop-out.
Overall this seems to be the theme of Season Four. Each of the Mane Six will have their elemental virtue tested in a fashion that would make them want to give up on said virtue to achieve their life goal. Each one must be willing to sacrifice said life goal in order to be true to their virtue. By staying true to their virtue they end up getting closer to their life goal anyway, and their friendships get a little bit stronger. They not really having to sacrifice their dream seems to be a cop-out to me, because it seems like the sacrifices doesn't really mean anything in the long run. But then, that's just me, and my wanting a kid's show to show that life really isn't as fair as the writers make it.
Possible, but then you'd have to figure out when F:E was first published, and see if that would match up where the actual production of Season 4 began, or maybe some time before the writers started pitching ideas for it.
1787516 Fallout: Equestria was published after Season One. But it was only recently posted to FiMFiction. That was when I finally read it, because it seemed to be put out in bite-sized chunks, rather than having the whole PDF.