Help! My Heart is Full of Pony! - Good and Evil · 4:27pm Oct 14th, 2018
This season‘s finale give us a fantastic villain. She hatched an incredibly intricate plot, and with every new obstacle - be it Starlight Glimmer’s staying on as temporary Headmare, or Chancellor Neighsay’s usurping of the same position - Cozy Glow thought quickly on her hooves, and Game of Thrones’d her way to the top. While that was going on however, the story managed to also paint a rather complex portrait of morality - a nuanced stance on good and evil.
Cozy Glow has her downfall in the end, not because she is overpowered by magic or brute force. She is not outsmarted or outfoxed either. She loses because she is exposed - because the mob of fillies and colts that she attempts to manipulate is far too educated to fall for it.
Cozy had initially used Chancellor Neighsay’s xenophobic rhetoric to rile up the students. Since Cozy had made herself so very popular, and since she’d cleverly lead the crowd to the catacombs knowing quite well that the Young Six would “suspiciously” be down there, the mob was easy to manipulate - at least at first.
However, when everypony saw that the Young Six were willing to risk their own safety for one another, the mob got woke.
Having spent an entire semester studying friendship, they knew true virtue when they saw it. They applied their knowledge. They thought critically. They questioned Cozy Glow’s actions and in so doing, exposed her villainy.
This is the power of an educated populace.
The lesson here reminds me of the Neoplatonists – a philosophical movement of the late Roman, and early Byzantine Empire. They argued that, just as darkness is an absence of light, evil is not a thing in and of itself, but rather, an absence of good. To the Neoplatonists, “good” was understanding and enlightenment, and education was the cure to all the evil in the world.
That notion survives to this day in our moral and political reasoning, (though it’s morphed quite a bit since then).
It also would seem to be a central tenet of MLP itself, since the show makes a point of repeatedly demonstrating that most villains can be reformed when shown the power of true friendship. However, the central reasoning, while noble, has some holes in it (which I’ll get to in a minute). First I want to talk about what we mean when we use terms like “education,” and “ignorance.”
School Raze demonstrated that not all education is created equal. Chancellor Neighsay is a prime example. He is a highly educated stallion, but what he has in intelligence and knowledge, he lacks in wisdom.
He allows himself to be governed by his own fear and suspicion. This leads him not only to mistrust non-ponies, but also to give undue trust to anypony who claims to hate what he hates. Even Sandbar played him like a fiddle, and let’s be honest: Sandbar isn’t very bright.
Chancellor Neighsay is proof that education of the mind is not enough. One also needs education of the spirit, and that’s a whole other kind of learning altogether.
It is through interpersonal education that the chancellor finally comes around. He sees first hoof that the Young Six are not villains. On top of that, he is confronted with the realization that his hate and his fear were what had allowed Cozy Glow to make a chump out of him in the first place.
He had believed that threats to Equestria could only come from without, all the while, neglecting to take into consideration that ponies themselves are capable of great evil. That he himself was capable of evil.
What makes Chancellor Neighsay such a compelling character is that he, as Cozy Glow points out, “believes what he says.“ He does not hatch a scheme to dominate Equestria. He is not a “Mwa Ha Ha” Villain. Neighsay genuinely wants to protect Equestria. He always does what he believes is for the greater good, but in the process, he ends up going against everything that Equestria stands for.
That’s the power of fear. It makes us irrational. It makes us compromise. It makes us feel small. What’s worse, fear, under the worst of circumstances, can convince us that hate is the only antidote to that very feeling of helplessness.
The thing that makes hatred and fear so difficult to conquer is the fact that people feel invigorated by it. It’s a weakness of character that masquerades as strength. When exploited at the societal level, it can become quite a dangerous thing (as history has repeatedly proven).
An education of the spirit involves an understanding of ethical principles and the intricacies of moral philosophy. The Philosophy of Friendship keeps one grounded, and prevents Neighsays from losing their way. An adherence to principles can likewise can save civilizations from losing their way, and steer them from “slippery slopes.”
Education. Enlightenment. They have the power to aid in many of the world’s man made (or pony made) ills, just as the Neoplatonists posited. However, the problem with Neoplatonism, and its later incarnations is that it fails to take into account that the world is a naturally imperfect thing.
This brings me to Cozy Glow.
She’s just evil. It’s that simple. Sometimes in real life, that’s how it is too.
Cozy had every opportunity for education, both of the mind and spirit (friendship). She had guidance from the crusaders and Starlight Glimmer alike, but none of it changed her nature. In a universe where demons and ponies alike can find redemption through friendship, this one little girl cannot.
Why? Because she is evil. It’s a plain fact, fully recognized in the episode, with all of its gritty logical implications.
In the very end, the princesses lock Cozy Glow up in Tartarus for eternity. A little girl. In Tartarus! Why? Because it’s dangerous to do otherwise. Because there was no hope for her. Because Cozy Glow is evil, evil, evil, evil, evil, evil, evil, evil, evil.
I don't know about you, but I love this. It adds richness and depth to the morality of My Little Pony without blighting its sense of hope. After all, it was children who first cottoned on to her (The Young Six). It was children who refused to be lead down dark paths by her, once they saw that the Young Six were virtuous. Even after the adults arrive, and Cozy Glow finds herself surrounded by The Main Six, as well as the alicorn princesses, when she tries to fly away, the very first ponies to obstruct her aren't the god-like princesses, or the elite soldiers (who arrive moments later). It was four fillies.
"I don't think so," says one pegasus child to another. That spirit is at the heart of every rebellion that has ever stood up to tyranny.
I don't think so.
This gives me hope.
-Sprocket
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Yeah, I've yet to see the episode(Will watch episode when/if Season 8 goes onto Netflix.). Of course, that didn't stop me from spoiling myself via the wiki. To be fair, I was still in my "am I sure I wanna watch this?" phase at the time, and odds are, I'll still enjoy it when I do watch it. That said, who knows if this is the end of that story? Maybe locking her in Tartarus was a big mistake...
Again, even though I haven't seen the episode, she does seem like an interesting villain. And a realistic one at that. People like Hitler didn't come into power because they could shoot lasers. They came into power because they were charismatic and able to get people to listen to what they say.
That said, it's kinda funny, but her color scheme is not that different from your avatar's.
Indeed, Sprocket! As you said evil is able and allowed to spread by trying to influence others through fear and hate. We've sadly seen this rise in our own world.
I think there is a time coming here, that has already begun in many ways, of people standing up and saying ' I don't think so!'. I admire their courage and calm rebellion against that which is wrong. I hope people will educate themselves and make informed decisions rather than act out of raw emotion.
And when true evil is revealed have the strength and conviction to call it out and vanquish it.
And this is why, even in a pure Wizard build, you don't dump Wis, you dump CHR. If nothing else, you don't want crappy Will Saves. Do that, and next thing you know, the only reason the succubus didn't Charm you into turning on your team is you are too terrified of pissing off the Awakened Otter-Barbarian team mate that it counts as both 'Deeply against your core beliefs" and "Obviously suicidal order"
But yeah, interesting seeing a Filly as just that pure Evil.... though I do winder if this isn't a Baby Doll situation, given how similar the two are already, where she's really an adult mare with a condition that prevent her from looking that way.
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"That said, it's kinda funny, but her color scheme is not that different from your avatar's."
Lol.