Three Spirits of New Years · 3:24pm Dec 31st, 2017
I don't like to talk about myself much.
To properly wrap up 2017, I'll reveal a little, just this once. Here's my past, present, and future
but I never said it'd be straightforward. 
THE PAST
I don't keep a list of "best MLP episodes". There's plenty that I could argue are objectively great because of how solidly they're written, and hidden depth, etc. They're usually the popular ones. Perfect Pear, Pinkie Apple Pie, just about all the M.A. Larson episodes.
But I have two favorite episodes. I'm not sure if I could argue they're well-written technically, nor do I really care. These are just the ones that affected me personally. And that probably reveals what themes I really care about (more so than elegant writing).
One of them is Hearth's Warming Eve (S2). I think it gets overlooked as yet another ponified holiday episode. Or as that one vague "worldbuilding" episode about ancient historical figures.
But here's the trick. Is it history or myth? Starswirl is mentioned, yet Celestia doesn't appear in it at all. When does this even take place? Is it history that's been embellished by myth? Or is it a myth that has some loose grounding in historical events? It's unexplained, yet it can work either way.
There's also some weird interpretations possible, like how Smart Cookie and Puddinghead call the new land "Earth". Is this implying a Battlestar Galactica type of origin where all the ponies arrived from another world/planet? I dunno, but it's possible.
Furthermore, how much do you trust that this play is based on the history/myth? Is it just an artistic interpretation that's been adjusted to fit the modern holiday? Is it only the Mane 6's interpretation?, seeing as how they're playing the roles and filling them with their own personalities and flaws. Or is it just a huge coincidence that these six roles were pretty similar to the Mane 6? How do the ponies in the audience view this?
For that matter, how do you view this? Is it an episode about the founders of Equestria? Or is it an episode about the Mane 6 themselves? I think it works equally well either way. You can ignore the history lesson entirely, and pretend it's an Alternate Universe where Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash get into an argument.
It's creatively vague with its own setting, and that's clever on its own. But I think that makes it even better as a holiday special. Even without being able to figure out the objective truth, the message isn't diluted. In fact that makes the sentiment feel even more genuine to me, compared to all the ham-fisted Christmas specials that have been produced in the past century. Maybe the Windigos are fictional within the pony world, but somepony still needs to close the window in that final scene.
I hate listening to Christmas songs. But I love that short carol at the end of the episode. It's the only holiday song that has ever felt sincere and meaningful to me. It reminds me of what holidays should feel like.
THE PRESENT
That last episode is for the imagination, so this next one is for the emotion. Or wait, I guess it could easily be the other way around too. One is for the head, the other for the heart. I just can't figure out which is which.
My other personal favorite is Too Many Pinkie Pies (S3). The one everyone remembers as "Twilight murders innocent Pinkie clones!"
A lot of fans find this episode horrifying, but only from viewing this episode literally. Why is Twilight so hasty with her irreversible plan? What if she zaps the real Pinkie?! (and now we have a hundred fanfics about that alternate ending)
No one seems horrified by the mirror pool creating life in the first place, just that these clone lives are destroyed at the end. There's something interesting about that line of thought, probably.
The conflict was never about the Mane 6 trying to identify the genuine Pinkie out of a group of clones, but about Pinkie's own psychology. Much like how the S1 episode Party of One isn't about the Mane 6 trying to successfully throw a surprise birthday party, but the inner conflict of Pinkie slowly coming to accept that she's perceiving the world around her wrong. Projecting her own self-loathing onto her friends.
That's what this one's about, in a more roundabout way because it's kind of abstract. Pinkie feels like she's replaceable, that her friends can only see her superficial outward behavior, and that's good enough for them. Pinkie then mopes about in the dirt because she can't even convince herself she's more genuine than the caricatures. And that's horrifying to me on a much deeper level than Twilight's magic clone-murder.
Maybe this is just my headcanon, trying to smoothen out the inconsistencies in the writing, but I think it makes the story stronger: Pinkie's friends already know she's the real one, because she acts differently. They set up the paint-drying contest not to prove it to themselves, but as putting on an act to force Pinkie to face the truth herself. They're not gonna zap her.
She wants to win the contest, not merely for survival, but because she cares deeply about her friends. She does believe she's genuine, and that makes her valuable to others. And she can only understand she believes this, after staring into the abyss. An abyss covered in wet paint.
With or without the headcanon adjustment, it's weird how this is set up as the S3 finale of Pinkie's character arc. I know most fans don't like the episode, but it's always resonated with me in a unique way. It's messy, but haunting.
Weird how I picked an episode each from Merriwether Williams and Dave Polsky, the two writers who got the most abuse and hatred from bronies. They wrote some bad ones, sure. But they also wrote the ones I found most fascinating in the whole show's run.
I wrote about the latter episode long ago, in my first blogpost essay actually. I felt like I had to eventually rewrite it here to better express the idea... but looking back I find the original post to be better than I remembered. Still, it feels satisfying to close the circle.
THE FUTURE
I don't want to write blogposts anymore. They're useless. They make me unhappy. So, no more.
Aw =/
Found these thoughts so interesting.
But do what makes you happy, follow your heart and true happiness wil always find you.
Always loved that turn of phrase.
And I’m sorry to see that these blogs will be ending. I always loved them, even if I rarely commented. But you gotta do what makes you happy.
I hope you’re still sticking around the fandom... I’ll miss you if you go.
i wonder who came from the future to warn you that if you continued writing blogposts it would lead to the creation of skynet
I, for one, will be sad to see these blog posts dry up. But I totally understand that you've gotta do what makes you happy.
I hope you find another creative outlet. I further hope it's here, in some form.
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thanks for tuning in to these! it meant a lot to me that someone was reading them.
my reasons are complicated... and selfish. but I'll still be around here.
but I reserve the right to break any promises I make to myself
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the Ur-Quan will take care of that problem.
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Like others, I read them all even if I never had anything to say. I also don't think you need to justify yourself; you need to do what you need to do.
Glad to hear you'll be sticking around though!
I never thought that much about the Hearth's Warming episode. Interesting! One benefit of all that vagueness is its good fanfiction, and it encourages discussion.
What!
Very interesting interpretation on the Pinkie episode. I've only seen it once, so I don't recall everything about it, but I really like your take on it.
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I don't like the really old swing/rock songs about christmas. they sound so outdated and commercial, but never go away.
and a lot of the traditional carols feel too preachy to me. like they're trying too hard to be spiritual.
so that leaves me enjoying Jingle Bells, which is just plain fun, and the Heart Carol from this pony cartoon. I can't think of any other exceptions at the moment...
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You leave me speechless sir.
Well, I know my goal for next Christmas!