Feedback - I'm finally caught up with the show already · 9:26pm Oct 27th, 2016
I WATCHED THEM, DAMMIT. I SEEN'T IT.
I mean, yes. I didn't watch the UK early release and, as such, saw the episodes as they came out in the US. And I saw the season finale on Sunday. More on that in a second.
More importantly to me, though, I just got finished watching Legend of Everfree. Unmarked spoilers for both are ahead.
But wait, RQK, you say. That came out like a month ago. Why are you waiting so long to see something that has Sunset Shimmer in it? Well... there's a few reasons.
1. University sucks. Plain and simple. Between homework for classes and handling a part-time job, it can be hard to find the luxury to do much. Trying to find a block of time where you can do things can be one thing. And it's such that when I do have free time I'm already like "But I wanna play Smash Bros." or "I wanna write Substitute" or "I wanna play Overwatch" or "I WANT TO SLEEP DAMMIT". Which leads me to...
2. My quest to achieve the perfect movie-watching environment; I wanted to devote my full capacities to Legend of Everfree. That means watching it in a quiet environment at a point in time where I have nothing due and am awake. Furthermore, I have adequate groceries with which to feast on as I watch the movie.
Finally, I decided to just say "Screw it" and I watched it in slightly less than optimal conditions. The one thing that I could not foresee was the quality of internet and, for whatever reason, the video stream became unwatchable if it so much as needed to buffer. I had to reload the page quite a few times while viewing the movie.
So what did I actually think of the movie and season finale?
I liked the finale. It was a bit weak as far as the finales have been but I can safely say that it's in the top six. ...Okay, that was bad. But I think it ranks fourth for me, ahead of Magical Mystery Cure and Best Night ever. Seeing Starlight lead the charge like that was pretty entertaining and there was a lot of fun to be had with it. How exactly Chrysalis foalnapped everypony is up in the air (it's both chilling and contrived at the same time, which prove both offscreen stuff is boring and nothing is scarier at the same time). Seeing Discord get pissed was a gem, though.
And I'm really glad that they did not reform Chrysalis. We've already got our share of reformed villains already. Also, I find it interesting that there exist materials that can soak up magic like Discord's. That's actually pretty relevant because... reasons. Nonetheless, Starlight's come a long way, and it was good.
Legend of Everfree, on the other hoof, is in the top four of Equestria Girls movies. ...Yes I just used the same joke twice. Actually, it's my second favorite behind Rainbow Rocks (seriously, I'm not sure anything can top that). Despite the difficulties that I had while viewing it, I think the plot was more wholesome than Friendship Games. Sunset is a gem, as usual, and seeing Twilight struggle with being Midnight was nice. I think the songs weren't as good as previous movies, although Midnight in Me was pretty good.
Gloriosa "I got this" Daisy and Timber Spruce were pretty decent. The latter was interesting because I'm a bit on the fence on their relationship. I mean, I was rooting for them, although it's not clear if a significant age difference exists (he could be in his early twenties, or he could not be). I wouldn't mind them getting together. Poor Flash, though. I mean, I ship pony Sunlight but wow, give Flash a break. Also the powers were interesting and fairly in character (I for one think Pinkie Pie makes a good demoman).
ALSO HOLY SHIT THEY JUST SET UP MAGICAL GIRLS WITH THOSE PENDANTS AND THE PORTAL CRAPPING OUT MAGIC OMG.
Can't wait to see what those three EQG specials that they have coming soon will say about all that.
Now, for some pertinent discussion. Both the season finale and the movie introduced some retrospective errors (which are the best kind of errors) within Feedback and Substitute (for the latter it was confined to the horse statue on the lawn of Canterlot High, particularly the state in which the statue exists, which I have already fixed). I speak, of course, Chrysalis and her hive.
It should go without saying that Feedback takes place prior to season six as a whole, and as it was written at the time, I used the very little knowledge that we had on changelings and took a guess (wherein I placed them in some nondescript cavern in the middle of nowhere) so that I could write a scene where Chrysalis reacts to Twilight's death. We now know that there exists a hive with which Chrysalis and her changelings would have gone to, which dialogue from Thorax adequately proves exists before the events of A Canterlot Wedding.
In the grand scheme of things, it's a minor detail. However, because I strive to keep these stories within the canon timeline, I'm going to perform the according changes. Eventually. On that note, I'm curious; for those of you that are reading / planning to read Feedback (and Substitute, since I'm asking), when do you consider it / them taking place? Do specific episodes happen before or after? Let me know!
I'll end this by drawing attention to said spot in chapter five.
Queen Chrysalis, for a few brief moments, went back to watching over her children.
The makings of a revenge plot swirled around in her head. It was much too early to tell if anything would come of it, but with Twilight Sparkle out of the picture…
A wide and malevolent grin, one so wide that even her backmost teeth were bared, spread across her features. Better and better.
Read that, take the season six finale into mind, and then make of this what you will.
Okay I'm not actually taking the credit for it but it's a nice coincidence.
I haven't really put a timeframe on 'Feedback' but if I had to place it, it would occur somewhere after 'Rainbow Rocks' but before 'Friendship Games'. 'Substitute' I think would occur either soon after 'FG' or at least some point before summer break (as Sunset and co. seem near graduation to me).
Also I've accepted that if I have to ask 'how?' in mlp (i.e. how did chrysalis capture everyone?) the answer is usually plot convenience.
Also I still want to know why in the heck human Twilight has wings. Was Twilight secretly a pegasus who was amazing at magic tricks this whole time? Was the whole issue Twilight had with Trixie actually that Twilight was afraid that Trixie would one day be good enough to expose her?
This is, surely, the most pressing question of our time.
4274021
^This. Princess Twilight earned her wings, and the argument could be made that Sunset did as well at the end of FG (Hasbro doesn't seem to think so, though). Sci-Twi, on the other hand, has done nothing to earn an alicorn ascension and the only reasoning I can think of to "justify" it is an attempt to make her more like Princess Twilight to avoid confusing the inferior child minds of the target audience. I don't like this theory, as one of the things I like about Sci-Twi is that she's not just a clone of Princess Twilight. She's similar, but she's a different person. (I also don't like it when the audience is underestimated.)
(Sorry for the rant.)
I like to think that the changelings captured everyone with a combination of attacking them in their sleep, and using portable fragments of Chrysalis's magic nullifying throne. After all, if she was apparently not even present for Celestia's and Luna's capture, she must have had [some/i] reason to have so much faith in her drones.
Whoa whoa whoa whoa.... you... you ship PONY SunLight!? Oh... my god... Excuse me a second, I need to collect myself.
*calmly bumps into the door before walking out of the room*
*The sound of cheering and hollering like a fool can be heard through the door*
*Returns to the room, clearly kind of short of breath*
Sorry about that... anyway, SunLight you say? And the pony version of it too? Cool, cool.
4274370
4274021
It's my belief that theories should originate from the context of the show. To me, it actually makes perfect sense that Twilight has wings. The reasoning is thus:
- In Equestria Girls, Twilight, who is an alicorn, activates the Elements of Magic to defeat Sunset Shimmer. At this time, the Element of magic already had imprints of the mane six and their respective races (why Rarity and Twilight lack visible horns when they pony up, I cannot and will not offer an explanation but there exists the possibility that the horns exist but are not discernable enough). Likewise, Sunset might fall under the same conditions in that she was a unicorn.
- In Friendship Games, Sci-Twi absorbs the magic within the humane six which was granted by the Element of Magic which (notably!) contained an imprint of a Twilight Sparkle who was an alicorn. Thus, why human Twilight has wings (and possibly some indiscernible horn which actually manifests during Midnight Sparkle / Legend of Everfree).
By the same token, Sunset may not have ascended to alicornhood due to the mechanism for ascension not wholly existing within the human world. I only offer that, however, as a possibility without definitive evidence.
4274403
You bet your flank I do. Pony Twi and Pony Sunset OTP forever. Accept no substitutes.
I just can't write about it (I mean, there's no room for some romance subplot in these stories, it would be like a tumor at best).
4274476
I'd argue there are ways to do SunLight in the story as a minor subplot. It's all about how you pace it, and how subtle things are. I mean, theoretically speaking, the groundwork is kind of half laid, and sure, you can't really do much with the idea at the moment, but there are ways to weave the start of the idea into the story as is. Like, write a modular scene, and see if it breaks the flow too much, and if it does, remove it, rewrite it a bit, and try again. If nothing works, you could always release a "Feedback and Substitute Lost Episodes" thing where you show people scenes that you just couldn't place properly into the story, as a sort of behind the scenes thing.
Also, as much as I adore Pony SunLight, I think I could live if something like TwiStar or StarSet was a thing... or MoonLight... or StarMoon... or SunDancer... or a cuddle pile of all of them. I like my adorkable unicorns/alicorns cuddling dammit! *slams the glass onto the floor* I SHIP ALL THE THINGS!
*ahem* Sorry about that.
4274386 If pieces of the throne could be broken off without losing whatever nullifying effect they had, then wouldn't the pieces of the throne being destroyed in the finale still have the same effect? (I don't particularly see why changeling friendship/love would nullify them).
Furthermore if using pieces of the throne was possible to begin with then wouldn't Chrysalis use that to their advantage? I mean she could have conquered Equestria 15 times over since her appearance... Personally, I'm found it hard even getting over how no-one noticed a giant-butt spire with a no magic area around it before, not to mention how no-one with questionable morals and a lot of power *coughDiscordcough* hadn't made an impact crater out of it already (especially if it existed back before Discord was originally defeated)
4274476 So the elemnt thought that the human Twilight was actually the pony one and gave her appendages (and possibly the magic boost) to match? I could see that happening, although it seems a bit eeeh of an explenation
? I mean if I was Sunset and still cared about becoming an alicorn (which, to be fair, I'm not convinced she does after the end of 'Rainbow Rocks') I'd be hella ticked off.
4274667
There's several possible reasons; perhaps the fragments require that the throne stays mostly intact to work, or the throne derives its power from pre-changed changelings as a whole, or any number of other explanations.
Chrysalis is a moron, so not really. Plus, it doesn't matter by what method they used; if changelings can kidnap Celestia and Luna without even needing Chrysalis's direct participation, then they could have done this far earlier anyway, whether they used the magic nullifying throne or not.