We had a Celestia episode!! (also mild spoilers!) · 3:12am Apr 16th, 2017
Well, not Celestia-centered, but she got more screentime and lines than some of the past seasons put together. Good enough for me! Insight into her character and such!
Choice quotes!
"There is no wrong way to fantasize."
"Hm. I was not aware that I was an expression..."
"(And I'm not spoiling this one, but there is HeartWarm.)"
The episode itself is darn funny, too. 
And of course I watched the next one too. Trixie is garbage at magic, and it's presented hilariously. Twilight is literally addicted to adventures to the point that she apparently pays to have to escape a room with her friends. Mane hanging down and looking slightly messy is a surprisingly good look for Starlight. Bulk Biceps wears many hats. Starlight even handles her temper better than Sunset. And the way Trixie responds is amazing, in ways this very episode had spent about fifteen minutes convincing me she was utterly incapable of. Seriously, easily one of the most prominent Friendship moments the show has produced thusfar, and I don't think I could do it justice in summary.
Oh, and, you might be wondering where I am, writing-wise. I've been doing a lot of stuff when I had time, mostly a new project that needs a bit of sorting out, as well as dabbles in some random stuff, most recently the Sirens of CHS sequel. No idea when the next SFaCF will be, because I've barely touched it this past month. Sorry. 
Her temper? Better than Sunset?
I... actually got a different sense. Like, the exact opposite. O_O
I think the second of these episodes was fantastic. The first, not as much, but anything with this much Celestia is appreciated just for that, but how they make Trixie that bad and somehow make her able to seem reasonable and likable afterward is really good.
Great couple of episodes, especially Celestia's bit.
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I can understand where you're coming from, but given that (spoilers!) Starlight controls herself and does a pretty good job of containing her emotions (granted, it's clear that that's not good for you either) even when she's spilling her guts (she stayed collected even when ranting at the target of her ire), I'd say it's better than Sunset's usual response: Immediately flying into a rage and doing something stupid, usually at the greatest detriment to herself.
4498045
I too was impressed with how Trixie was handled by the end.
4498059
Well, on the other hand, her approach was literally making her sick, one of the things making her angry was bringing up her past, something Sunset learned not to let herself be bothered by anymore, and the whole bottle-it-with-magic-thing only happened because Starlight didn't trust herself not to do something horrible. Plus, Starlight had a neck-vein-swelling rant because she was afraid of getting into trouble with Twilight, while Sunset's last rant happened not even in the last movie and came after her friends nearly got eaten. A bit of a different scope, that.
Overall, the point is at least debatable, I'd say.
4498059
Also, I just realised.
Starlight said her magical strength depended on her emotional state. And it is true, some of her most impressive spellwork came during fits of rage or other melt-downs.
Starlight is the Hulk of magic.
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Debatable indeed!
Starlight had quite a few reasons to be mad, as were listed by the puppets of her rage, and one of those reasons was Twilight being mad about the loss of the object that directly led to a lot of good being done in the world, starting with Starlight herself. It wasn't exactly a minor issue, but a pretty substantial one backed up by several minor ones. Though I don't know if putting up with Trixie at her Trixiest counts as 'minor.'
Still, you're right in that at least Sunset's response never caused her (or others!) physical illness, even if it just meant that Sunset always made her messes right away instead. I'd say recognizing the harm she could do, especially when angry, is a good sign, more-so than Sunset's apparent lack of self-control, one showing a sign of remembering what happened in their dark past, the other... not so much.
Come to think of it, if Sunset had taken Starlight's method in the most reasonable moment she's ever had to get angry, bottled her anger for long enough to talk to Twilight (or at least let the others do it) when the chance came, they might have avoided the whole Midnight Sparkle disaster that nearly destroyed the universe. Then she could scream at her for her recklessness with forces she didn't understand.
So, I guess it depends on what one considers the 'worse' way to handle things; boil over right away and burn everything in reach, or go the slow poisoning route until it's plain to see that something is wrong (Trixie noticing was what brought the bottle of Hatorade to the surface, which I thought was clever) and let come what may from there.
And yes. Magical Hulk smash. Given the way Sunset leans so heavily toward feeling over thinking, she might have the same thing with her emotions relating to her magic strength. Maybe it's a good thing she doesn't have her horn anymore.
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There's an easy answer to that question!
The opposite of what each of them did. Sunset exploding in Twilight's face led to her even more obsessing over 'understanding' magic, and Starlight bottling it up led to Trixie very nearly coming to bodily harm at the hooves of three rage-puppets. Had they switched, neither would've happened.
Probably wouldn't be that much of an issue. There was a post by one of the writers saying Sunset wasn't and isn't on either Starlight's or Twilight's level, even with the advantage of being a little older than the latter.
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The case-by-case basis, of course!
Given Trixie's response when the truth came out, that probably would have been the best outcome. Which makes me think she and Sunset could be really good friends!
Oh. That's kind of a relief, I guess! I mean, she might still be scary for most other ponies to deal with, but still tamer than our two Meltdown Queens.
The first episode was decent, but nothing amazing to me. I do kind of find it really odd how quick Sunset 'graduated', I'd say it was, at most, a year in ponyville. I understand Twilight being Celestia's pupil much longer due to magic studies and she didn't have any real friendship lessons till much older, but the graduation was weird, especially in conjunction to the second episode, showing Starlight believes that being angry at a friend will always ruin the relationship. That doesn't really fill me with confidence on her graduating so quickly.
I do hope though that any future ones involving Twilight and Trixie interacting keep up that hatred on Twilight's part as it is funny to joke about it being sexual tension.
Loved the second episode though. But I am a huge Trixie fan. Become the greatest magician ever, Trixie! Your teacup armies will reign over Equestria!
I did quite enjoy how Trixie seemed more flustered than panicked about three ponies attacking her, being heckled and chased out of towns so many times has dulled her fear of other ponies quit a bit I think.
And yes, you should write more, for shame and all that.
4498455
It would indeed be weird if Sunset graduated so soon, but I'm guessing that Starlight is a faster learner.
That, and it's not as if the Princess of Friendship herself ("She taught me about that one!") is perfect either, having made a few blunders even since getting her wings.
I really like what they did with those dynamics; letting us see Trixie with a good friend via Twilight clone while at the same time maintaining a rivalry with Twilight herself.
Teacup armies... Y'know, if she gets shipped with Discord like I'm kind of hoping she will, that may actually happen...
That was kind of an interesting moment for her, I think. She wasn't particularly afraid, and actually seemed more hurt/offended by it. Maybe that fits with the way someone might react when a friend was angry with them and they didn't understand why (lesson of the episode and all), but maybe she thought Ponyville as a whole had accepted her, especially with her recent medal and national heroism.
By the way, one of my favourite things was Twilight imagining the sudden bromance between Starlight and Ember. I mean, what was that even?! She knows both of these people fairly well, so why did her mind right away go to frat-ladette? Is that indicative of how she sees Starlight deep down, as an immature teenager with poor impulse control?
...Actually, that wouldn't be far off. In general. Not in the way Twi imagined it though. I kinda want someone to pick up that point and explore it. Why does Twilight picture her pupil like she's a dare away from making a keg-stand and shooting random objects? She can't be that much younger than Twilight is, if at all.
4499425
I took it to mean that Twilight sometimes uses her Instant Fanfiction spell for things other than worrying.
4499552
I know most folks ship him with Fluttershy by now, but the way he treats Twilight in particular—like a schoolyard bully with a crush—makes me wonder. Especially since we found out Celestia is a lot like her when nopony is watching.*
What, you think she ships EmberLight? Or maybe GarLight?
By the by the way, while we're on shipping... what did Discord say to Twilight again? "Her destiny falls squarely on your haunches."
We know the ponies normally say stuff like that but with shoulders, just like we do. So, in other words, Discord was talking about Twilight's ass.
*Guards don't count.
4500441
I'm not sure what exactly she does with it, but in Celestia's own words, "There's no wrong way to fantasize."
...I'm implying she uses it for naughty thoughts in general!
It might have just been his Dirty Old Man sense of humor (which I think is at least a fanon thing) presented as PG as possible, but he does seem to treat Twilight a little differently from everyone else. Or, with his history of wordplay ("Back where you began...") maybe it's that he ships Starlight with Twilight and meant what he said in a very literal sense?
Or, of course, maybe he just wanted to put pressure on her, or the writers just wanted to use horse words, but those aren't very fun answers.
Indeed, it was a nice change of pace to not begin a season with some epic two-part crisis (they're probably saving that for the finale).
What made Celestia's laughing fit work so well was how it book ended a commercial break, complete with ominous music leading into it. For a moment it almost seems as though Celestia is about to reveal some malicious surprise to poor Twilight.
Now I can't help but wonder: (1) if Twilight is capable of generating Danger Room-style training simulations; (2) how far the extent of changeling mimicry goes if the one who mimicked Starlight could conjure a giant flyswatter out of nowhere; (3) if Starlight's anger magic could have any connection to the negative energy the sirens fed on. All that bottled up rage would have probably been a smorgasbord for the Dazzlings!(.
4502234
Those last three questions might not come up again in the show, but they're definitely a big barrel of fanfic fuel.
4500591
Nah. He wanted Starlight as his roommate. And let's not forget, he easily violates Twilight's personal space the most out of everypony, over and over and over. Discord likes spending time with Fluttershy, but he also likes spending time with Twilight, for entirely different reasons!
There's another fascinating thing I've seen after the episode aired. I watched a Pony Reacion video on Youtube, from a guy I remember saying Twilight was being very unfair to Trixie during No Second Prances. How dare she think Trixie wouldn't be an awesome friend for Starlight! That's all just Twilight being mean and jealous!
That some person saw the season beginners. And he said this during All Bottled Up: "Maybe Trixie shouldn't have been your first friend."
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Maybe he wanted Starlight as his roommate because he thought it would make Twilight jealous (of either one of them), picturing what they must be doing with cotton candy as she walked past Starlight's empty room? At this point, I'm not sure even he knows exactly how he feels about who.
I wouldn't say there's much fascinating about someone changing their minds after a while. It was jumping the gun a bit to say 'how dare she think Trixie wouldn't be great' (if that is actually what they said), but Twilight was still wrong for assuming the worst right out of the gate. Based on how frustrating Trixie proved to be, I can understand why that person might have thought Starlight might have benefited from starting smaller, as it were, but Trixie's little speech at the end went deeper than most of what we hear from the primary Friendship crew, in ways I think more than made up for what she'd been doing up until that moment.
4502905
Well, he still seems to enjoy annoying Twilight. He obviously wants her attention!
Not so much changing their minds as just flip-flopping. I don't thing they realised they quoted Twilight nearly verbatim.
Again, it's at least debatable. Trixie was so wilfully obnoxious, and her apology sounded so self-serving to me, I wouldn't have accepted it in Starlight's place.
Also, just because I think you may find this funny...
derpicdn.net/img/view/2017/4/20/1416744__safe_artist-colon-jase1505_starlight+glimmer_sunset+shimmer_twilight+sparkle_alicorn_animated_boop_classical+unicorn_cloven+hooves_comic_dialo.gif
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Starlight and Sunset have basically the same mane style. That's something I hadn't noticed before, and possibly should have.
I now have a joke to include in a yet-unwritten chapter somewhere.