Story update and why does the show keep reforming villains? · 7:53am Apr 10th, 2018
I really don't like doing one of these every day but the chapters now almost at five thousand words.
I mean it's like 300 words short but that's an easy fix.
Guess last week was bad enough for me to throw myself into writing that much.
Also I think I now get Rarity. At least here in the story. But I feel like I have finally "got" Rarity. Sure I was decent at writing her but I never could get the fashion side of Rarity to mesh well with the Generosity side. Either I just needed more life practice and study with fabric techniques or I just finally got the voice of Rarity in the chapter.
Sure I used her before in the story but even then I felt good with her there, but I hadn't used her much outside of that scene so spending nearly a thousand-ish words just having Fluttershy and Rarity talk felt good. Probably my favorite scene with Rarity I've written. Though honestly that's not saying much since I used her sparingly because I knew I could write her okay but never to a standard I liked. I avoided her.
Hey at least I have now mentioned Spike again. Now if I use him which if I mentioned him, I'm probably going to use him now. Don't know when but with how Starlight's acting, the Canterlot portion of the story will be soon coming to a close.
Though that might be in the coming chapters. I had a short scene before Rarity and Fluttershy talk and Starlight is pretty sure about her plans.
And with how I'm using the Want it Need it spell here, it's like one of those ventriloquist dummies on stage. Which I guess write what you know. No, I don't mean I am a ventriloquist. More like write what creeps you out and do that instead. But yeah evil Starlight is if I wrote Twilight as an antivillain who has her own way of looking at the world, is less evil in scope than Tirek, Chrysalis, and the Storm King- but is also using ponies as puppets because she can and bleeding everyone she meets of joy and individuality with her spell. But she's amazing at magic and just wants to find one pony.
Doesn't make her good and even if I reform her, she won't ever be completely free of what she'll pull off. Sorry but the few episodes I've actually seen of good reformed Starlight doesn't hold my fancy. And even in canon I'm surprised there wasn't more pushback from the town she took over and forced into conformity and cult like behavior. Sure doesn't seem like a character I'd be comfortable just saying 'hey welcome to friendship land, here's a cookie' and leave her be. I've never been the biggest fan of the show just reforming villains quickly. Discord, while ridiculous in hindsight, makes sense cause that took a few seasons and even now he can still be Discord. Trixie wasn't that evil besides Magic Duel where she was pretty much possessed by dark magic, I guess the Changelings turn good in season six? I haven't got there yet but okay, but Nightmare Moon turned back into Luna in season one, I guess some of the new antagonists in the Equestria Girls stuff turned good? Haven't seen those but that'd be a bit weird, Sunset turned good, Tempest Shadow turned good after the movie's climax.
I get why the show makes the antagonists turn good since they've done it a lot. Friendship is magic and having friends rules, but like it takes time to reform your image after you were a jerk and people will still hate you for your past actions. That's what I am getting at, perception that others have of you is still valid even if you overcame your past.
Doing the magic hand wave of the Elements of Harmony as a magic curative for every major villain makes me skeptical about if the Elements are also morally grey. I mean going from evil to good or repentant or for beings like Discord to face order or Tirek being depowered completely that quickly almost sounds like a weird free will blocking thing. Or cruel and unusual punishment. Or emotional torture.
Sorry for the rambling, but it's late and I tend to do that. Helps codify some ideas for another story or for later.
as often seems to happen, I'm gonna respond to parts of your rambling
Elements of Harmony I've slowly grown to dislike these as its the Equestrian version of holding the biggest gun/nuke and saying if anyone steps out of line, they get a taste of this.
And it happens every time that something gets out of hand. Boom, power of friendship and rainbow wave then all is fixed magially and we can get on with our lives. I mean, it even fixes the damage they suffer to their homes and cities (twi's library aside) so its really a true get out of jail card there.
So in one of my upcoming stories, I'm coming up with a way that the ponies main enemey (out of the several they face) destroys the Elements (or at least, leaves them unable to be used for a very very long time). Then a real fight happens.
I think Discord is sorta well done in terms of reformation but the rest of the villians who turn good all of a sudden just dont feel right and natural.
Luna was sorta ok because of how it was the nightmare, but it would still have been nice to see some of her fighting off her inner demons, as surely she would not be 100% back to how she was a thousand years ago inside just like that. The one episode that I feel adresses this only really focuses on her public image which really is the easier thing to fix.
Starlight was badly reformed. It left me hoping that Twilight would not suddenly take in the pony that tried to take everything from her, but no... Twilight just took her in like she was a good lil pony.
This would have been better if she had taken say, a season to slowly come round and get over herself with everypony growing to accept her, but no.
Season 8 so far has been nigh unwatchable to me as I feel that they have taken things too far. Twilight's friends all of a sudden running a school under her leadership is too much. Now we have EQG and MLP FIM with a heavy school thing going on.
They have jobs, lives and dont revolve around Twilight and every new thing she comes up with...
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I haven't got why the writers chose a school season after season seven. When the look at season eight first came out I thought it was a parody of the show. I mean new characters from different places are nice but didn't season seven end with fighting the Pony of Shadows? Unless the school arc ends with a war I'd worry about how the show keeps running. I would have expected a school arc being season seven at the latest since it would make Twilights arc kind of go in a nice circle from season one.
And on the point of the Elements, that's why I haven't really ever used them. It's too simple to handwave battles when you use your nuke against something else. That's why at some point in the story I want to get to the movie plot because the Storm King used a fair bit of anti magic weapons against Equestria. Honestly I think I might use the Elements once if that happens. I think I will find ways to have the villains defeated in other seasons. I just don't like the crutch the Elements are now.
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When I saw the post about season 8 with the shot of the new cast I thought it was a joke. Twilight wanting to run a school is ok. Twilight roping her friends in to do something they have not ever voiced an interest (and that takes them away from what they actually do) in just felt wrong for me. Season 7 had some things they could have worked on and the movie introduced extra lands and new faces.
...Which they promptly decided to convently have Tempest off in another land and the funny cake eating minion is gone and the hippogriffs are mildly antagonistic but have a rep at the school and thats about it. So things have totally gone off on another way comprared to where the show seemed to be going.
yea, im pretty sure Celestia got lazy because of how she could just use them and be rid of whatever major problem she had. So Equestria has been at peace for ages since the bad guys cant fight something like that without a lot of anti-magic like the storm king.
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Probably to give other minor characters more of a role and development. I for one am all for the idea. Saves us from having the Mane 6 having to repeat the same situations and lessons - aka the Fluttershy effect - and gives others a chance to shine.