Luna Reviews FIM S3: 13. Magical Mystery Cure · 2:25am Dec 25th, 2014
In a bizarre coincidence of timing, fictional Twilight Sparkle becomes an alicorn on nearly the same day as actual Twilight Sparkle does the very same thing. I’d almost accuse the writers of using predestination magic, other than the fact that the means of ascension employed differed so much between the two.
In the series, Twilight is given her new status by Celestia as the end result of her studies in friendship. Despite the vital part played in this process by her friends and fellow Element Bearers, the others receive no significant reward whatsoever.
By contrast, the actual Twilight worked together with her friends—not just Bearers, but also Spike, other ponies, and a couple of humans that I haven’t yet been given clearance to reveal their identities, to work together to pool their magic into Twilight in a desperate gamble. All of them went into the spell facing the possibility that none would survive, but the end result was Twilight becoming an alicorn to barely defeat Tirek and revive her friends.
Notes
00:00: Well, the Crisis is past, Tirek has been defeated, and the world of Equestria will never be the same. To celebrate, let’s watch at last the season finale!
00:07: Start right off with a musical number, why don’t we?
00:31: Wow, this is fast-paced! “There’s the sofa clerk, selling some quills!” Only in Ponyville would a line like that make any sense whatsoever.
(Hope: Ponyville is the best.)
01:04: Well, that’s one way to get your audience invested—what happened to Rarity? And, by implication, what happened to Rainbow Dash?
01:42: OK, I’d admit it—the theme song has somewhat grown on me over the course of this brief season. But only somewhat.
03:21: Um...I’m confused. Switching cutie marks is not going to have this effect. The talent should have followed the mark, but each pony is clearly incompetent. I hope we get a clear explanation down the line.
(Hope: I kind of want to write a story where that happened instead—where they are extremely good at the skill they got, even though it isn’t theirs. But then there wouldn’t be any conflict!)
03:42: I’m not quite sure, but I think Pinkie’s voice actress is trying a bit of an Apple accent there.
03:53: No, I guess I heard wrong, because Applejack is not speaking with Rarity’s accent. Oh well—I think switching the accents around along with the cutie marks would have been interesting.
(Hope: They only did it with Pinkie, because people find Southern accents amusing.)
04:50: “Last night, while you [Spike] were taking one of your seven-hour bubblebaths…”: OK, on the one hoof, way to dump on Spike again. Also, wrong, because dragons prefer dust baths to water baths. On another hoof, this obliquely implies that this mess wouldn’t have happened if Spike wasn’t there to keep Twilight from screwing up, so I guess that’s a partial compliment.
05:01: Wait, is this the secret book that fictional me was looking at at the end of Crystal Empire? This mess is my fault? Or, rather, the fault of myself and my sister?
(Hope: Nah, as usual I place the blame on powers beyond comprehension. Life is easier that way.)
05:08: And the letter is written by Tia. Yup, her fault. I wash my hooves of the entire matter. Also, Star Swirl’s Last Spell? There’s no such thing. There’s Star Swirl’s Last Scrawl, which despite being tackled by hundreds of ponies over the centuries has never been cracked. I consider it an early example of post-modern art, myself.
(Hope: Did he go crazy?)
(Luna: Well, he did become a reclusive hermit in his last years, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he went crazy.)
05:47: “It’s not their memories, it’s their true selves that have been altered.” Um...no. Assuming we don’t learn anything different, what I’d say has happened is a memory swap, at least partially. Applejack has gained a false set of memories describing how she dedicated her life to fashion. But the memories are shallow, and do not include any muscle memory or innate talents, so suddenly she wakes up and finds herself incompetent. That’s pretty clearly what’s happening. If their “true selves” had been altered, then they would have been good at their new jobs.
05:53: “Zecora’s cure for the Cutie Pox”: Another episode I haven’t seen, I take it?
(Hope: Correct. Apple bloom got the cutie pox. Is that a real affliction?)
(Luna: Yes, although I assume they didn’t include the part where all the fur turns into feathers, and all the feathers turn into scales.)
06:05: “Their destinies have now been changed.” Changed to what? Please spell this out. If you mean “changed to be failures”, then I don’t think you’ve demonstrated that, other than the memory switching that I’ve described. If they were to try some other job closer to their true (but forgotten) talents, then they would meet with success. That’s not a change in destiny. Now if, for example, Nightmare Moon and Discord were terrorizing the land beside the changelings, because nopony ever wielded the Elements of Harmony, then that would be a destiny change.
(Hope: You would have had to fight Discord as Nightmare Moon. How would that have gone?)
(Luna: An interesting question. If the Nightmare had been able to get over her monomania—say by winning and instituting eternal night—then she might have a chance to outsmart Discord. But there would be no chance to overpower Him.)
06:07: So, musical episode? Musical episode. This song seems superfluous, because you really can’t blame Twilight for what happened. How about having the fictional Tia sing about how she manipulated everypony according to her obscure plans?
06:31: Oh wait, the song is about how Twilight’s sad and wants to fix everything. OK, that’s acceptable compared to what I thought this song was going to be. (And fictional Tia still has a lot to answer for.)
06:58: This scene implies that Pinkie Pie’s antics are all that’s keeping Ponyville from falling apart at the seams. I would have to say that this statement is probably 100% accurate.
(Hope: Pink party ponies are perilously powerful in powering the prosperity of Ponyville.)
(Luna: Positively.)
07:33: Twilight looks at the picture of her friends. Note that there they have their correct cutie marks. This once again suggests a memory spell—the marks were suddenly changed, and the memories to match them, but reality itself hasn’t changed, and neither has history.
07:43: Twilight remembers her friends, and glows like crazy. Wow, it’s like the authors had no shame in flagging their blatant deus ex machina whatsoever.
08:02: Fluttershy is about to leave town forever, presumably for Cloudsdale. Wow, that’s pretty dark. Also the bit where everybody is on the verge of killing everypony...starting with Fluttershy.
08:08: “I’m moving back to Cloudsdale.” Yup, called it.
(Hope: That’s so sad...but it is a sign that Fluttershy is most bound to her talent in a way. Without her proper talent and lifestyle, she can’t even remain in Ponyville.)
10:04: See, memory spell! Fluttershy didn’t lose her destiny, she just forgot what it was. I get the feeling that the only reason that “changed destiny” is being bandied around as the cause of the problem is to avoid use of the memory spell used against Discord’s victims. They could have had Twilight try the spell, and then have it not work because of the more powerful magic of the Elements. Maybe they were trying to save time.
10:18: Fluttershy gets her cutie mark back: Now the interesting question is, does she retain her false memories of being the Element of Laughter (and presumably a baker)? A line of dialog would clear that right up.
10:49: Fluttershy suggests that Rainbow Dash try weather work, without prompting from Twilight: So she definitely has her old memories back, at least.
11:16: “What just happened?” So what does she remember? Answer me, episode! Also, Fluttershy gets her memories back feeding animals, which reflects Kindness, but kicking clouds for Rarity is not really loyalty. Also, it’s not a recreation of how they got their cutie marks: Fluttershy connecting with animals once again works, but Rainbow Dash is not making a sonic rainboom. As a weather pony, Rainbow is merely competent, not exceptional. This just reeks of sloppy writing. Good songs, though.
(Hope: Thank the stars for good songs.)
(Luna: I’ll let “Pipper Pink” know you liked them the next time I see her. Do you know I’ve started visiting her dreams, despite the fact that she’s in Equestria? It started Saturday night, with her telling me that everypony was all right, but wouldn’t you know it, I assumed it might have been one of my rare actual dreams?)
11:51: OK, Rarity’s dress used gems, so that sparks both Generosity and her cutie mark story.
11:57: “Oh my! What a terrible dream I had!” Ah, so they do remember their false memories.
(Hope: In a distanced sort of way.)
12:09: “[Pinkie Pie could] Lose the Apple Farm? Well we can’t have that, can we?” And this answers my other question—remembering the false memories, they know what Twilight is talking about when she directs each pony to the next one to fix.
12:19: The Apple farm is withered. How long has this curse been in effect? It was implied to just be a day, but maybe the spell put Twilight (and Spike) into an enforced week-long sleep? I mean, how else has everypony’s fortunes fallen so quickly? Remember, that photo of Twilight’s implies that only memories have been changed, but this is beginning to imply otherwise.
(Hope: What if it’s a localized effect? Around the affected pony, the magic in the area is twisted to match their false memories? That would explain wilted plants, furious animals despite not being particularly aggressive with Rainbow before...? I don’t know, just a theory.)
12:32: The presence of the Apple family really begs the question of how they handled Pinkie Pie suddenly showing up and acting like she was an Apple. Did they confront her? Did she go so nuts that they decided to side with her? Or has reality truly been altered? And if so, how would changing it back one pony at a time affect things? And finally, to bring matters to a more personal scope, what about the Elements? Did they work? How can Ponyville still be there, in daylight, if “destiny” was truly changed? This episode is so confusing!
13:11: Note that Pinkie Pie is cured not by helping one of the other Bearers, but because of her concern for the well-being of all of Ponyville. This is the only one of the six where this tactic could possibly work. Well, maybe Fluttershy’s concern for her animals, but that’s the only other one.
13:21: Do these ponies have any idea what they’re celebrating?
13:35: More unnecessary glowing. Leave it for the alicorns, ponies.
(Hope: But unnecessary glowing is the best thing!)
13:49: “I know how to fix the spell!” Yeah sure, play right into my sister’s plans…
(Hope: What if her plans are beneficial?)
14:27: Now you’ve done it—you blew her up! Now, I know full well the writers haven’t killed off Twilight Sparkle, but I want to stop and speculate on what they could do. Like, if they decided they couldn’t get away with leaving humans out of Equestria anymore, they could have the next scene set on Earth somewhere, and drop Twilight right there, in the middle of a busy street, and end the episode with the ponies thinking that she’s dead. That would pretty much guarantee viewer demand for a fourth season. Or, you could reveal that the book was not by Star Swirl, but instead planted as a trap by Sombra a thousand years ago, and now not only has he survived, but Twilight’s suddenly in his secret base deep beneath the Crystal Castle! Or maybe her mind has been split into six (Hope: Five, Luna.) parts, which now reside in the minds of each of the other Bearers (Luna: And Spike—ha!), and now they have to figure out how to put her back together again—and get her a new body! Or maybe she landed a thousand years in the future, in a world where Sombra has taken over the world! (That one was inspired by my discovery of the series Samurai Jack.) I mean, the number of possibilities at this point are just endless.
(Hope: Or she could become the spirit of harmony, and they treat her as a sort of oracle, giving the rest of her friends missions and goals in a cryptic way.)
14:32: Commercial break? Seriously? You stop the video to pitch Nike shoes, while innocent children are left with the idea that Twilight Sparkle was obliterated by her best friends? MLP Animation, I could kiss you. Seriously, nobody toys with their viewers like you do.
14:42: Where is this? Is this supposed to be MLP Animation’s idea of the pony afterlife?
14:52: “Congratulations, Twilight” “You’ve graduated to a whole new level of mental manipulation!” And speaking of which, where is the fictional version of myself? If anypony belongs in a weird mindscape, it ought to be me!
(Hope: I think it would have been nice if you were both there, guiding Twilight together.)
15:27: Notice that all of the memories being displayed are conveniently only of scenes from prior episodes (I assume) and that they are all in FIM’s aspect ratio. Actual memory windows are much less identical in appearance.
15:30: Another song? You do know that now the fans will demand that Luna sing a song now, right? (Hint, hint…)
(Hope: I demand it!)
16:59: What?! Ha-ha-ha-ha! Oh, silly animators. Ascension looks nothing like that. Which is probably for the best, given all of the ponies who died trying to turn themselves into alicorns over the centuries. Don’t want to give any pony viewers the wrong idea. Also, I’ve got to say the timing of this episode is absolutely uncanny. Other than, of course the fact that fictional ascension is completely different than what we’re seeing here.
(Hope: The magic of friendship!)
17:29: Um, what has been happening with the Elements of Harmony in this scene? Fluttershy was wearing hers, but in the next scene they are all gone, and Twilight never had hers. But when she was disintegrated, she was wearing hers, and it wasn’t left behind.
18:13: Celestia bowed to Twilight: She needed to do that a lot more often, if you ask me. At least the cameras caught real-life her doing it during the celebrations after the Portal was re-opened.
(Hope: Yay for humility and pandering to the audience!)
18:16: “Is there a book about being a princess I should read?” So, she hasn’t really changed at all, has she?
18:31: Oh look, it’s Princess Twilight’s coronation! Everypony looks nice, except… No, not that dress! I thought I burned that dress, and every copy of its design!
18:35: Pan the camera! Pan the camera! Do not look upon me!
(Hope: I think you look beautiful, Luna. Though Narcie agrees with you.)
18:44: “She even helped me reunite with my sister, Princess Luna.” Aww...ok, that was nice. But that dress!
18:58: Aw, Twilight’s parents.
19:13: Another song?
19:18: Twilight’s crown: “Hey, look what we dug out of that permanent black spot in your library floor?”
19:42: I don’t know why they didn’t use the actual Equestrian Coronation Anthem. It only requires an orchestra of 2,500 musicians, 780 singers, and unique musical effects produced by seventeen unicorns trained for two decades in advance.
(Hope: ...That sounds impressive.)
19:47: “Say something, Princess.” My inner screenwriter is telling me to tell Princess Twilight to say to the crowd, “The only way you can be happy ever again is by reading the biggest book you can cover-to-cover by sunset!”
20:10: “I wouldn’t be where I am if not for the friendships I made with all of you.” And yet you’ll notice only one of the six was rewarded with alicorndom...
(Hope: I really hope they have another series where the other five ascend. Fluttershy’s coronation is restricted to seven attendees and some animals, and lasts an hour.)
(Luna: Ha!)
20:21: “Today, I consider myself the luckiest pony in Equestria.” I remember McPoodle informing me that the Earth version of this line always guarantees that the speaker will die in the next five minutes.
20:40: “It’s liquid pride—totally different thing.” Ugh, seriously? Stallions didn’t care who saw them crying before they came into contact with human notions of masculinity.
21:10: Another song, but it’s a reprise, so that’s OK.
21:13: Ah, Lyra hopping up and down in the background. You can’t really have a major event in Equestria without her showing up and adding her distinct flair to proceedings.
21:27: I am glad that Spike got to be part of this last scene. It would have been so easy to leave him back home, given how the show usually treats him.
21:35: “Everything’s going to be just fine!”: Um, when did Princess Twilight learn how to fly? Unless they are going to say that the ability magically came with the wings, which is a cop-out. Also, using that line as the last line of the season? That’s almost inviting the audience to walk away afterwards and never come back. Does that mean this is the last season of Friendship Is Magic?
(Hope: Or an invisible pegasus was carrying her to give the appearance of flying!)
Questions for Hope and Narcie (and anybody else reading this that wants to play along)
(I’ll answer these too, but only after you.)
1. What kinds of alternate outcomes can you think of for the moment after the other Bearers blew up Twilight Sparkle? (I’ll try to come up with a couple more than what I listed earlier.)
(Hope: They could have had her appear in front of Star Swirl the Bearded when he first tried to make the spell, and run the rest of the show as a historical documentary. That could have been interesting. Or she could have literally exploded and it turns out that Crysalis replaced Celestia to destroy the Elements of Harmony.)
(Luna: Ooh, dark. Anyway, for mine, I was thinking that Twilight could have fallen back into the Discordian Era, where she has to hunt down chaos demons with the help of a mysterious stranger [Inuyasha inspired that one.] Or she could have been shrunk down to the size of a dust mote, and has to find a way to get the others to notice her—bonus points if you think of a legitimate reason for it not to be Fluttershy.)
2. What was your favorite episode of this season?
(Hope: “Sleepless in Ponyville”. It was just excellent. The only way it could have been better is if the show’s Luna took a more prominent role, and showed Scootaloo some other dreams, good and bad, to give her perspective.)
(Luna: This sounds horribly self-centered, but I’m going to have to agree with you. Not for my part, but for the character development and insight into Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash, and to a lesser extent, Sweetie Belle and Applejack.)
3. (I suppose this one is really more for me than you, since you actually have to know the ponies in question in real life to answer it.) Are there any episodes or scenes that you thought did a better job of characterizing somepony or explaining some Equestrian concept than any of the episodes that were factually based?
(Hope: Narcie didn’t appear, though she resembles Amethyst Star vaguely. So yeah, no real answer.)
(Luna: And I would say Rainbow Dash, for her growth in “Wonderbolts Academy”.)
4. In retrospect, do you think that the decision to make the episodes this season fictional was a successful one?
(Hope: Yes. I think it allows them a lot more freedom, and gives them a chance to have actual surprises and plot twists.)
(Luna: Well yes, but there’s so much more they could be doing that they haven’t. They only visited one lost civilization, for example, and even in committing to just the one, lost a lot of opportunities to expand on how a whole city of ponies would adopt to being out of touch with the rest of Equestria for a millennium. I mean, if that actually happened, then there’s no question in my mind that I would be spending a substantial portion of my time in the Crystal Empire, especially since contact with Earth wouldn’t exist in this continuity. I mean, I think you could get a great episode out of that concept alone—don’t you?)
5. Do you think humans should finally show up in Equestria next season?
(Hope: I’ll be honest, they would have a brief surge in human viewership, then it would fade very quickly. Humans find ourselves interesting in certain ways, but not when we are looking for an escape, and we seek out ponies, dragons, and mythos. I think they should stick with ponies.)
(Luna: Perhaps. Of course, next year was scheduled to be when Equestria would get access to human cable channels—before Tirek, of course. So that would be a good time to intrude an element that would get more ponies watching the show. Personally, I find humans quite fascinating, and it would be fine to add one to the cast. Especially if said human replaced Spike as designated idiot for the show.)
I won’t even try to speculate what next season will be like. They could pretend that Season Three never happened and go back to true stories, or they could try to cover what a fictional Twilight princesshood would be like (and then have to correct it based on the real Twilight’s princesshood).
...And that’s it for this series of reviews. I hope my readers enjoyed them as much as I did writing them. Also, my thanks to Hope and Narcie for their kind participation, and putting up with my eccentricities.
OOC: Merry Christmas McPoodle!!
...Why does that sound familiar? Feels like something from Dragon Ball or Sailor Moon... I wonder if Twilight wins love by daylight... and I bet McPoodle got caught in all this, he's just that unlucky.
I always thought it was because the SELF REALIZATION that comes with the Cutie Mark didn't actually follow. What we see is what, subconciously, each pony perceives of EACH OTHER's talent. Rainbow Dash didn't get her cutie mark taking care of the weather, but Rarity seems to consider that Dash's main impact on her life. The same way Rarity got her own Cutie Mark by learning to bring out hidden beauties, but Applejack only sees her as a dress maker.
Also, hurray for alliterations!
And hurray for the new portal!
McPoodle could be the new designated idiot. He could fall into Equestria after slipping on a banana peel or something :p I wonder what humans in FiM style would look like though...
There's probably a synth and/or a filter that can do it at this point. Not likely to live up to hearing it live, but then neither would a recording of the real thing.
I thought it was a desperate plea by the writers to the viewers, to not to abandon the show even though the toy-marketing executives forced them to ruin everything forever, again.