On Hidden Catalysts · 6:21am Jun 22nd, 2021
I thought I was going to get to this before I went away for a week.
Well, at least I'm here now.
So let's talk about issue #97 before we are lead astray by historical revisionism.
I think the most important moral of this issue is hidden in the middle: distrust is a poison that will destroy society given the chance. Those who expect the worst from others will inevitably feel compelled to do the worst first, inspiring similar distrust in those they meet. But the inverse can also be contagious. That's the kind of magic of friendship that doesn't shoot cool lasers, but it's a magic that works on Earth like it does in Equestria.
But if we want to look closer to the end of story for a moral (in accordance with normal convention) then I guess we get something about the small-minded trying—and failing—to destroy what they cannot control. The world is bigger than a totalitarian ruler would like, but no matter what they do the world will still be big.
I wonder what Abyssinian prisons are like (if you don't escape too quickly to properly find out)? Most likely they're awful these days—I imagine they were mediocre at best when Abyssinia was thriving, and have since gone seriously downhill—but there is a possibility that being imprisoned would at least guarantee reliable meals and shelter from the weather. I suspect there's a fair number of street kittens who didn't have that on their own, although one would hope that that Underground also has the skills to ensure a steady food supply for those they rescue.
I'm a bit surprised by the shortness of Fluttershy's tolerance for Discord and Trixie bickering. Yeah, it's not productive, but Trixie was legitimately trying to help, and you can hardly blame Discord for being distraught when it's not clear if he'll ever be able to get the anti-magic collar off. There's no call to jump straight to yelling.
Especially when it doesn't even stick.
Fluttershy's plan for getting into the Abyssinian temple clearly shows that she remembers what she must surely have been told about how she was rescued from Chrysalis's clutches. When you need a distraction, why look any further than a proven thing?
As Capper knows, it is a valiant thing to go down fighting for what is right, but I'm sure he'd agree it would be better not to need to.
Do you think it's actually practical to chop down a Tree of Harmony with an axe? I don't know what sort of crystal they grow from, but I suspect it's hard enough that the Tree will damage the axe more than the other way around. (Yes, King Cat did evidently scratch it with his bare claws, but did he really? There aren't actually any marks left on the tree.) What you really want is to exploit the strictly ordered atomic structure that leaves it unable to bend or stretch. Hit it with a sledgehammer until it shatters.
Fluttershy's claim that chaos doesn't need to have a meaning is nice and all, and strictly speaking it's true, but we all know it's not relevant. There's a very clear meaning here, which is that a powerful magical being strongly disapproves of your actions.
It means that you should be very careful about threatening Fluttershy.
And then we get to the attunement to the Tree.
Once again we don't have time for proper trials. We do echo the previous time with a trial of reconciliation, but it's a pale and unneeded echo. It's been long enough that neither Capper nor Chummer carries anything but regret about what happened, so you can hardly claim there's really anything to reconcile. Chummer's apology and Capper's reaching out are socially necessary, yes, but they're purely a phatic handshake (even if for an uncommon situation). They're just a ritual to voice their agreement that they miss the old days.
And overall we miss the minimum bar of characterization for the cat crew. With the dogs we had to hurry, but we were still shown all their elements if we were paying attention. This time around we just have to be told when the time comes. Admittedly, a little bit of being told would be okay; Shadow's surprise at being Magic isn't nearly so meaningful as Zecora's, but in and of itself it would have been fine for her to not show any prior signs. But it's not alone, and we just don't know these cats like we ought to. Not with only one normal-sized issue with them. Not when Capper is the only one whose element we really know in advance, and only because he was originally introduced as a foil for Rarity.
The connection to Anugypt is interesting. I had assumed that it was in modern-day southern Equestria (based on its similarity to Somnambula's homeland), but maybe it was in modern-day Abyssinia all along. Or maybe the cats emigrated after the conflict with the jackals. (For that matter, perhaps the jackals left Anugypt too and are the ancestors of the present's diamond dogs, or at least contributed to their low opinion of cats.) Either way, we of course wonder who locked the cats' magic away and why. Was it the jackals, the ponies, or the cats themselves? Was it in fact the mysterious Knights of Harmony? Will I ever stop accusing the Knights of Harmony of malfeasance?
Time may tell.
I rather enjoyed this arc. I agree that we didn't get a lot of characterization for Capper's friends, which is unfortunate. The writers have to choose between focusing on the pony crew or the new characters, and when you have Discord and Trixie to suck up all the best lines, it's really hard for anyone else to do much.
I also like the appeal of Abyssinians being descended of the cats of Baast. From some maps I have seen, it looks like Abyssinia is the southwestern corner of the continent. That could plausibly be where Anuygbt used to be.
One thing I am annoyed about in this otherwise awesome series: Despite the show's central conceit that "Friendship is Magic," it looks like any Element of Magic needs to also wield literal arcane magic as well. The comics seem to emphasize this repeatedly. At least it shows creatures can fling spells without having some kind of horn.
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If you think about it, the Element of Magic is a bit weird however you look at it. If it's really the Element of Friendship then it's kind of redundant; they're all elements of friendship. (Which is okay if the Element of Magic is held by the leader, the first among equals, who represents all of the components of friendship, but so far none of the groups who have found the other Trees of Harmony have been lead by Magic.) And if it's the Element of Literal Magic As In Defying the Rules of Reality then it doesn't seem to belong at all; magic is a tool, not a virtue.
If we look back to the origin of the Equestrian Tree of Harmony it does support the second interpretation; Starswirl had the role of Magic among the Pillars of Equestria, and while he was the leader of the group (and bossy in general) he wasn't a great friend.
5541324 Yeah. I feel like the show and comics have consistently supported the second interpretation of the element of magic in a lot of different ways. I just wish they wouldn't, pretty much for the reasons you stated.