The finale...

I won't spoil anything.

Other than... if I manage not to have a cerebral aneurysm of rage while writing it, expect the most vicious review of my life.

Comments

[Reese]

Well, uh... Hm.
Not terribly promising. :D
(Thanks for not spoiling, though.)
Well, maybe it'll inspire a lot of much better "This is how it should have happened!" fanfiction. Or interesting reviews.
And failing that, well, not as if I don't have plenty of other ponyfic to read anyway, and watch the new episodes I may still, but I am here mostly for fan stuff at this point. :)

[Alondro]

5111599 The /mlp/ forums DETONATED from the finale. NO ONE is happy with it.

Basically, the writers said, "Hmm, seems trendy now for every final episode/season of a popular show to do absolutely everything wrong and piss off the fans so severely that they all rage-quit!"

[Reese]

5111610
...Funnily enough, you are actually kind of building hype for me. "Oh, wow, it's that bad? How, how?" :D
(Still no spoilers, though, please. :))

...Wonder why someone downvoted that comment, though...

[TheAncientPolitzanian]

5111694
Some people just don't take Alondro's whole "OHMAGERD IT'S THE WORST THING EVAH!!! THE WRITERS SUCK!!1!" schtick very well, I suppose.
I'm one of those people, BTW.
Personally, I didn't think that comment was dislike-worthy, but I fully understand why it would get a downvote.

[FTR2017]

5111599
5111610
Let me guess...

Spoiler warning, everyone!

Rock falls, everyone dies then Deus ex Machina happens and everyone is revived by a friendly neighborhood necromancer that was never mentioned in the plot? One who is a black and red alicorn with bad taste in jokes and even worse at intruding at Cadance's field when shipping other ponies, like Twilight and that old priest pony from that Valentine's Day Hearts and Hooves Day episode with the CMC? With himself wanting in Discord's pants, believing himself to be the cool, ultimate seme to Discord's keet uke despite his gleeful awfulness and horrid, bland personality? One that drives Discord to horror, shivering behind Fluttershy's back due to his unwanted advances?

Let me know if I'm on the ball, okay?

[Reese]

5111716
Ah, thanks.

5111723
...My, those black bars are tempting... so easy to just... let the cursor stray over them... No! Resisting! :D
I have chores I really ought to be getting taken care of anyway. :)

[Wild Zontars]

5111723
Nah, disappointing in completely different ways. Non-spoiler spoiler: remember that thing the fandom was very concerned about several years ago when Twilight became an alicorn, and the writers calmed us down and explicitly said that thing wouldn't happen? For no apparent reason, they went out of their way to demonstrate that it will, in fact, happen. I'd elaborate more, but those would be actual spoilers, so I won't.

[Alondro]

5111694 This could be "The Room" in MLP...

Discord, "I did not brainwash Fluttershy! It's BS! I did not brainwash her! I did not! …. Oh hi, Twilight."

[Alondro]

5111599 Plot points to consider:

1. Give Chrysalis and the changelings a backstory at last, try to tie it into Discord's to solve two plot threads at one time.
2. Either give a reason for Cozy Glow being The Omen, or just write her out entirely. She really adds nothing and it's a waste of narrative space to spend a volume trying to justify her existence.
3. Make some villain the 'Dark Overlord' behind all the Dark Magic as the Big Bad, and tie it all nicely together how the Puppetmaster has been guiding all his forces secretly the whole time. It could either be Grogar… or make Tirek's father Tirac.
4. The Big Bad must be imprisoned and need special circumstances to escape, hence his limitations throughout the series until recently as his prison begins to weaken. Maybe tie that into the REAL purpose behind the Tree of Harmony, and thus make the Pillars' return actually relevant.

[FTR2017]

5111853
Considering I joined fairly recently? Nope, I have got no idea what you're talking about.

I'm all ears to hear all about it though.

[FTR2017]

5111886
Have you been checking over my own notes for my current story's future plot developments? You've been eerily on point besides a couple points where we differ, and that's saying something considering I share living space with Cthulhu in R'lyeh.

*Checks the space under the bed*

Nope, I bet you're in the attic, watching me type as I work.

PS: Point one is the only one that I can say I don't care about--them bugponies work well on their own, comics be damned.

PSS: I didn't know about Grogar's appearance when I wrote my own thing down though. Like the Real Slim Shady once said, 'he's dead, and his corpse locked in my basement!' 'Nuff said.

PSSS: The Pillars who?

[Wild Zontars]

5111904
Flat-out spoilers follow:

When Twi became an alicorn, we asked if she would wind up outliving all her friends, and what that would do to the whole Princess of Friendship thing, the Elements of Harmony, etc. Meghan McCarthy explicitly said "Twilight will not outlive her friends." And yet, the final episode contains a time-skip, showing Twi as a big-as-Celestia alicorn ruling Equestria (complete with sparkly wavy mane), and the rest of the Mane Six growing old. Also, Pinkie Pie settled down and had kids, but none of the others (especially Applejack!) did. Celestia and Luna went on permanent vacation. So now Twi (and Spike) are facing a long future of running the country, with none of their old friends, not even family of friends for the most part.

[FTR2017]

5111910
Oh wow, talk about ironic hell--the imposed kind, mind you.

The 'Princess of Friendship', stuck in the ivory tower the same way that dear ol' Celly was... utterly alone.

Yup, I can see why people are mad.

Meh, I'll take RealityCheck's version of this for my own nefarious purposes.

PS: Celly and Lulu went on permanent vacation ... or 'went to sleep', so to speak?

PSS: I can see it! Feminists of the Tumblr variety, living the dream!

Editor's note: To the one who downvoted me, thank you kindly for showing your appreciation and love for my wisdom in such a manner!

[Alondro]

5111905 Well, I'm considering this from the point of fixing the finale, given the rest of the canon we've been handed.

It sounds to me like you're also considering altering huge portions of the worldbuilding from the last 4 seasons, which certainly could also be done, but basically we might as well redo the whole series at that point!

Soooooo… what we do is send Spock back in time to stop somebody from doing something... and then the timeline gets rebooted! And then Twilight shouts "KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!"

[Alondro]

5111915 Except Celly seemed perfectly ok after 1,000 years, to the point of playfully trolling snooty nobles rather than brutally slaughtering them for displeasing her.

We know Twilight sucks, however, so she'll clearly become an insane psycho.

lol

[Alondro]

5111910 Rarity tried to have kids with Spike... it didn't end well. Turns out the macro on micro fetish REALLY doesn't physically work out...

#AbsurdFiMEndings

We should post a whole bunch of totally ridiculous outcomes for every character, since at least half of them will be better than the show by accident.

[FTR2017]

5111945
Nah, Starlight already did that shtick.

It didn't stick.

[Alondro]

5111905 Most of what I mention is just basic fantasy story plotting tropes. It makes the story much easier to follow, provides a logical path of progression, motives for the characters, connects the dots in the timeline... basically makes for a much better story to both write and watch.

For any long-term narrative, it's best to have a basic outline of every major event and character connection. Then you stand less of a chance of totally losing your place and ending up with... what we're getting. Or "Steven Univese". Or the final season of "Star Vs the Forces of Evil". Or "Lost". Or "Battlestar Galactica". Or "Game of Thrones" season 8. Or "Star Trek Discovery". Or "Doctor Who Season 11". Or ever making the mistake of giving anything to Rian Johnson.

[Alondro]

5111910 Twilight suddenly gets shot with an Alicornite (it's like Kryptonite, but lamer) bullet after the credits and McCarthy pops up in a South Park-style cutout lolling, "Told you so!"

And then we get an after-credit-credits to the tune of "Trolololo" followed by a Rickroll.

And then we find out Larson was behind this all along...

#AbsurdFiMEndings

[FTR2017]

5111945
Considering some of the 'family-unfriendly Aesop' shit that the writers got going (Babs Seed anyone? Or Mare-do-Well?) for many episodes it would be an improvement.

The joys and wonders of fanfiction: to see how others handle the given canon... and Frankenstein the shit out of it.

My particular favorites for that type of rewrite is My Little Pony: Sora's Misadventures in Equestria and 7-human in ponyland. What about yours?

[Alondro]

5111950 That's because she's Starlight and not Spock. Nuff said.

[Alondro]

5111955 I tend to find the ones that work out best with crossovers or HiE eventually leave the canon altogether and go off in their own direction, allowing natural cause-and-effect to take place.

[FTR2017]

5111952
To be fair, I haven't watched anything more modern than 2008 so all I got is TVtropes. I have not watched any of the shows that you mention ... and when I accidentally saw what passes for 'toon' these days, I required bleach to wash my eyes. Cartoon Network has certainly fallen hard.

Hell, I only found out about MLP in 2017. Being disconnected from 'fad' is a given with my current arrangements.

... Nothing big was lost, and what was lost was in fact Japanese fanservice that one can find ways to see.

P2P sharing is now an issue though.

[FTR2017]

5111956
Okay, that made my day.

5111957
I like that aspect - more often than not, it is more 'cohesive' than regular canon. Most Japanese shows at least have that, cohesion, which I prefer.

[FTR2017]

5111948
Can that idea be proposed for a thread at HiE and The Writer's Group? I am certain that plenty of lulz can be had with its premise alone.

[FTR2017]

5111610
Now that I think about it ... wouldn't it be their plan?

To be rid of all the queers that have given the 'fandom' a bad name, and appeal to the next generation, kinda thing?

Naturally, their 'Advertising Department' is as full of fail and misery as everywhere else and will assuredly fail at performing that goal: to make the 'fans' ragequit.

Edit note: To the one who downvoted me, I know you love me and my words of wisdom! Thanks for passing by!

[Azrael the alicorn]

5111886
Ok with all of it except for point 3.
I would prefer the villain to be one of the Light side, so to be not so clichè that it hurts.

[TheAncientPolitzanian]

5111910
To be fair, roughly 80% of the fandom ignored McCarthy and wrote "Twilight outlives her friends" stories anyway.

(I'm exaggerating, of course, but you get the idea.)

[Alondro]

5111964 The way so many series and comics tend to end in spectacular awfulness, one would be justified in questioning whether it was intentional scorched earth... until you dig in a little and realize the SJW-type creators are just THAT bad. Even when not focused on ideology, they still can't manage a cohesive long-term project. They simply don't think the idea through to completion and just hope the rest will come to them in time.

[Alondro]

5111966 Uhm… if they're doing evil things, they're automatically on the 'dark side'.

Someone being honest and just and magnanimous and benevolent and generous... kinda sorta CAN'T be evil.

You can have the person wearing a mask of righteousness, while being actually an A-hole, but not a genuinely good person.

It'd be like proposing a story where Forrest Gump was actually an evil mastermind bent on world domination and then expecting anyone to take it seriously.

[Azrael the alicorn]

5111977
I beg the differ. Ever heard of the Sacred Darkness?

This trope usually manifests in the powers of The Dark Side being treated as equal compared with the powers of Light, coming with the same acknowledgement and worship that people offer to the Light.

Usually, this kind of darkness takes the form of a "pure" darkness as opposed to the "corrupted" darkness that is typically used by villains. The philosophical interpretation behind this is acknowledged that light and darkness can and must exist only simultaneously. Darkness can still be associated with aspects such as death, but expect this to be treated in a positive way, such as death being an important part of the cycle of rebirth, being natural and therefore necessary for the world. Also, a dark god may simply be doing an unpopular, but still very important job, rather than being a villain. This kind of darkness may not be nice, or comfortable, or maybe it is even outright terrifying, but it nonetheless radiates a dignity that cannot be denied and, like it or not, you know that the world would be worse off without it.

"Pure" darkness powers can often easily be distinguished from their "corrupted" counterparts. A One-Hit Kill spell by a villain using corrupt darkness will probably involve a lot of pain, mutilation, or brutality; a pure darkness spell of that kind, on the other hand, might result in something resembling a peaceful sleep or simply just dropping dead. Pure darkness powers tend to avert the more obviously negative aspects of darker powers such as Mind Rape or Torture and instead tend to be more spectacular and flashy, or involve beautiful stuff, like conjuring up the star-filled night sky, or awesome stuff like summoning a black raven or other creature associated with the night. For instance, if a hero's signature move is a combo attack where he cloaks his blade in light magic, a "pure" darkness counterpart to that move would simply involve cloaking the blade in shadow instead.

Despite this, it may still carry some of the usual problems of dark powers, such as the Noble Demon spirits empowering the Sword of Plot Advancement deciding that their user is not worthy enough to use them, or simply the usual problem of prolonged exposure to the darkness being dangerous to the mind. Note that "sacred" does not have to equal "good." More often, these characters embody a morally neutral concept or ideal. On rare occasions, villains can use The Sacred Darkness, but usually this only works when they are opposing another villain who is using the corrupted variant in an A Lighter Shade of Black situation.

It can also be interpreted as necessary and holy when it's part of a Yin-Yang Bomb. In a similar vein, the pure/corrupt interpretation can be done for Light in a Light Is Not Good scenario, such as a "corrupt" light spell that gives the enemy radiation poisoning. See also Light/Darkness Juxtaposition.

This trope is the logical conclusion of Dark Is Not Evil but it does not strictly exclude Dark Is Evil. Please note that this trope is not just Dark Is Not Evil. The usual variant of said trope is that a good person is donning dark motifs and/or using dark powers despite their villainous and problematic connotations for the sake of good. That is not really this trope. This trope is about some kind of darkness that exists in a form where you can reasonably justify its existence for the good of the world or when darkness is treated in some way as equally holy or good as Light would be treated. Generally, if your hero can make a "World of Cardboard" Speech or Rousing Speech involving the virtues of their particular brand of darkness, it qualifies.

[FTR2017]

5111975
Potatoh, Potatoe judging by current cultural trends of political correctness in the 'younger generation'--they can't stomach anything that 'harms sensitivity towards minorities'.

But I see your point.

I still think that the Japanese did it right by ignoring Feminazi culture and 'Tumblr-Political Correctness'.

[FTR2017]

5111977
If someone actually pulled that off with Forrest Gump, I'd read it.

[Alondro]

5111983 This is one of those silly tropes where people have completely lost track of the difference between metaphor and literalism.

Evil is HEAVILY based on motive and intent, as well as aspects of the outcome. The 'darkness' that is 'evil' is NOT just dark coloration or the absence of light! What is defined as 'darkness' vs 'light' in these newer definitions skews significantly from the classical definitions and would be better served by entirely different terminology.

In the show's case, it's very clear that Dark Magic is severely corrupting by its very nature. It's NOT just another type of magic. Using it for too long directly contaminates the user's mind. Therefore, for FiM, the classic metaphorical associations would be a perfect fit. You'd have to change the show's mythos so severely to make a different fit, you'd be better off writing something completely different.

[Alondro]

5111985 Taking the Japanese example, we clearly need to focus on crudely-drawn webcomics.

Then we'll have our own "One Punch Man" and "Mob Psycho 100"!

(finds a whole bunch of terrible X-rated furry Sonic fetish crap) EUREKA!! A gold mine!

(One month later...) EVERYTHING'S ON FIRE, BUT ALSO SOMEHOW FROZEN SOLID!!! HOW DID THIS GO SO WRONG?!

[FTR2017]

5111993
At least life turns interesting if you go that way.

WTF is usually what they aim for in Jap animation and regular shows.

And fandoms are usually about x-rated products, 'nuff said.

Edit: Don't forget the friendly neighborhood tentacles on your way, will ya? They are awfully fresh with people!

[Reese]

5111879
Good grief, it's comparable to that? :D

5111886
All of those ideas could work well with the proper execution, I think, aye.

[Alondro]

5111997 MLP: Tatzlwurms Are Magic

[Alondro]

5112030 Only not as unintentionally hilarious. Instead, it's much more like "The Last Jedi".

But if we're going to go with an animated example of a series with an ongoing plotline that just went totally off the rails and utterly failed in the ending, pissing off practically all the fans: "Star Vs. the Forces of Evil".

The last two episodes of that show triggered people so hard a petition to remake the ending was up within an hour and had 50,000 signatures an hour later.

[Reese]

5112059
Ah, thanks.

Wow.

[Alondro]

5112067 That's what happens when you don't plan out the primary events of your narrative's endgame wayyyy back in the beginning.

Same thing happened with "Bleach" and "Naruto".

Why is "One Piece" still going strong? The creator plotted out absolutely every major narrative thread from the start. He just adds to each as he goes along, but can always bring them back to the central story and move the plot toward the conclusion, meaning he never gets lost as the destination is already known.

Wandering about randomly is fine in a slice of life, but wandering about when you know your story has to end up somewhere definitive is like taking a vacation to Wallyworld and then finding out it was closed when you got there. So then you go crazy and hold the owners hostage!

[Reese]

5112075
Taking a vacation to WalMart sounds like a pretty odd plot twist in the first place to me. :D
(Possibly you meant something else, but that's what I've heard "Wallyworld" used for before, and it made the joke even funnier to me. :D)

[FTR2017]

5112052
Tatzlworms are awesome!

When in doubt, summon one!

[Alondro]

5112095 It's a reference to the original "National Lampoon's Vacation" with Chevy Chase.

I'm really old so I remember things... like the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. That was a fun time.

[Reese]

5112193
Ah, thanks. :)

[Fome]

5111694
Calling an imageboard "forums" tends to trigger channers.

5111723
That would have been so much better...

[Reese]

5113823
Ah, thanks.

[Fome]

5113971
Just a hypothesis. I'm not the downvoter.

[Reese]

5113991
Oh, I didn't think you were, but thanks for the clarification. And it's a better hypothesis than the nothing I previously had.