My Little Pony Season 9 News 10/04/2019

This weekend, one major background star gets a chance to shine... IT'S NOT APPLEJACK!!!

GOOD MORNING, FIMFICTION FANATICS!!! This is the Dramamaster829; Critic, Actor, Writer, Motivational Speaker, and Occasional Singer, keeping you up to date with the latest news for the final season of MLP! You know I was surfing around the 'Daily' just the other day, and I happened to stumble upon this interesting article in regards to the subject of characters. This user, whom I really don't know personally, went on about background stars like the CMC, Starlight Glimmer and possibly a handful of others and, despite being popular amongst the community, can never be considered as big stars as our 'mane' protagonists. And while there is a bit of 'truth' in that statement, if years of working in community theater has taught me anything in life it's that 'every' character is considered a 'star' in their own right.

Just because background or support characters may not have stories as heavily focused as the journey of Twilight Sparkle, her five best friends or even her assistant/brother, Spike, it doesn't mean they don't 'have' a story to tell. Not every episode we've seen is a Mane Six focused episode, some stories feature the characters we either don't usually see in the spotlight or just casually strolls along the background to, as I say about the ensemble 'act and react'. As the season draws to a close by next week (More on that story next Friday), every character is seizing their opportunity to not only finish whatever story they started, but rather they want to put some closure on any long term goals they hoped to achieve. A huge life time goal in this case stems from possibly the most important decision in one farm pony's life as we prepare to take a look at the upcoming episode entitled:

The Big Mac Question

While I acknowledge this episode was already released early, I only wish to ask you for this important favor:

NO SPOILERS!!!

Thank you, Rarity.

You're welcome, darling.

*Clears throat* As the title implies, it's finally going to happen: After a few seasons of courting and dating, Big Mac and Sugar Belle have decided to propose to each other (Even if they don't know they each had that idea in mind). But these moments are never that easy when their friends do 'everything' to help and ends up making a big mess of everything! There are two types of plot devices we normally see when it comes to these stories: There's the one where the group misinterprets a subject's intentions and any attempt to fix it makes it worse than it seemed to be. Then there's the 'other' scenario, like this one, where they hear something special is happening, want to make this the best moment ever and unintentionally spoils the moment for the happy couple. All I can ask going into this episode is that for all the shenanigans that are expected to happen, it doesn't distract us from possibly the most important moment for one pony's life:

Cue the 'Old Spice' jingle.

Having been part of the series ever since the very first episode of the season, Big Mac has always been the pony who relies more on his actions and expressions as opposed to having a casual conversation. While he may not have had the biggest role in securing the safety of all Equestria or going on 'Friendship Missions' like his sister and her friends, nevertheless he's always been there for Applejack and the rest of his family through their years spent on the Apple Farm. From their time growing up as kids, losing their parents (To this day, the cause of their death remains unknown) and even cross-dressing just to help Apple Bloom win a prize at a social (It was cringe worthy, but I admit it had tender moments). In that same amount of time, I've seen many fans ship this guy with almost 'every' girl they can possibly think of and now that Big Mac is about to get married, in particular with a pony who was introduced back in Season 5, I can already hear the fans burning all their fanfics knowing that the show is making this one couple canon. Of course, before we even considered Big Mac and Sugar Belle being together, there were so many other well known pairs fans thought would be legit:

Yeah this was a disaster waiting to happen.

I honestly don't care if they were cousins, this was still cute.

Yes, Big Mac was quite a bachelor and long before 'Big Belle' or 'Sugar Mac' would be a thing, years ago I figured either one of these girls would be a nice fit for Big Mac. The classic tale of the farm boy and the school girl seemed to trend well between Bic Mac and Cheerilee, it's been teased multiple times throughout the show and had such a pairing had been legit it would've really broaden Cheerilee's character as more than just the school teacher in Ponyville. But it was perfectly clear that the two are better off just being friends and we all saw how forcing them to fall in love proved to be a disaster. As for Big Mac and Marble Pie, sure they hardly had a conversation apart from 'Mm-hmm' or 'Eeyup', sure it was implied that the Apples and Pies may be cousins, but I honestly felt there was some form of attraction they might've had even if neither one had the nerve to express how they 'really' felt. I honestly felt bad for Marble Pie when he saw how happy Big Mac was with Sugar Belle, a downside to being so close to the end of the season and we don't even get to know if Marble will ever find her happily ever after which would've happened if she had only spoke up sooner or maybe she'd be better off if she left the farm like her sisters (Everything worked so well for Pinkie and Maud after all).

Now I will admit, when I first saw that the crew was jumping around this concept of Big Mac and Sugar Belle being an item, I honestly wasn't sure how this was going to work. But then I gave one more look at how this pair grew and...

Okay MLP, you got me invested.

Over the course of this blog, I went on and on about the journey of Big Mac but essentially this as much Sugar Belle's journey as much as the Big Red Machine. Sugar Belle was once a member of 'Our Town', stripped of her cutie mark for equality and forced to bake really bad muffins. But the fateful encounter with six ponies who proved what true friendship and equality means, since the day she got her mark back she was determined to be the best baker in town. Next thing you know, along comes this handsome young stud who had this crush on her and while it was a messy journey for him to ultimately admit his true feelings for Sugar Belle, the feelings for him proved mutual and they've been together ever since. Of course, this pairing was almost immediately shattered due to a misunderstanding and almost broke up at one point... But maybe let that pass.

All and all, for Big Mac and Sugar Belle, this is not a 'fairy tale' where they have this wedding that is 'literally' magical, that all ends with a big musical number as they wave goodbye to their friends and family (But they say there is 'magic' when it comes to weddings). They are real ponies with personalities, dreams and aspirations who found a feeling more powerful than friendship itself and a bond they want to share with each other for the rest of their lives. Now we've seen weddings before in MLP, whether it's as epic as Shining Armor and Cadence (Where we were introduced to Chrysalis) or an emotional journey between Bright Mac and Pear Butter a.k.a. Buttercup (A 'Romeo and Juliet' with minimal tragedy, unless we count her daddy kicking her out of the family) or even a chaotic wedding for Cranky Doodle and Matilda (An episode that was a love note to ALL the background stars in MLP), but who knows what changes will follow once Big Mac and Sugar Belle finally become hitched? Whether they decide to live on Sweet Apple Acres together (Which really takes the whole 'Grass is Greener on the Other Side' deal literally, comparing their locations) or maybe they'll decide they want to start their own lives somewhere else in Equestria and Applejack would have to learn to let him go (Given what she's been through, I wouldn't blame her for not wanting to see her family drift apart). While this may not be an Applejack episode that expresses her concerns on what 'she' wants or perhaps doing something that she feels is best for Big Mac even if that means she'll never see him again (Otherwise it be a different episode), this is a proud day for a stallion like Big Mac who, compared to most male characters on this show, is arguably one of the most popular male stars we've followed and we sincerely hope that this episode makes for a heartfelt moment amongst the community.

But the big question remains: What do YOU think? Be sure to leave a comment below at your earliest convenience.

Until next week faithful readers, this is the Dramamaster829... By God... I just realized it's actually almost over. *Pause*

I'm going to need a moment to process this.