Help! My Heart is Full of Pony! - The Next Generation, Pt 1

I'll be breaking from my rewatching for nostalgia and perspective format for a little while to wrestle with the film that just got released. There is so very much to talk about that I won't attempt to consolidate it into any kind of review that encapsulates everything but rather, publish a series of short essays on particular themes, tropes, and aspects of this - our first glimpse at G5.

IF YOU HAVE NOT YET SEEN THE FILM, READ NO FURTHER! SPOILERS AWAIT YOU BELOW!

Okay.

For starters, I just want to take a moment to appreciate the absolute reverence that this movie has for MLP:FIM. Whatever its flaws and imperfections may be, this film is a passionate love letter to the show that we all adore. I've seen the opening 5 minutes three times now, and it brings me to the verge of tears every time. In fact, my heart was so full of pony, that I paused the film to write this very essay.

I love how they politicized the message of friendship, and how Sunny's love of the childhood stories she learned - and love of her father - that drove her the whole time.

The opening, the Mane Six figurines, the stain glass windows, the cutie mark of Twilight Sparkle - these are relics of a forgotten past that both Argyle and Sunny are passionate about.

I really connected to that.

The stories that Argyle told Sunny as a child end up driving her throughout the entire film. These ideas - this mythology - it means something deeper.

A vague cultural memory - a spark of optimism and revolutionary hope drive Sunny to change the world for the better.

I feel the same way about the show.

FIM's impact is further reaching than nine seasons, and a couple of specials. It's more than a toy line, and a movie.

The legacy of G4 My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is us! The lives it touched.

How many of us have discovered parts of ourselves through these stories? How many were rescued from the brink of suicide because of these stories? How many of us took comfort in these stories in the face of suffering and loss?
How many of us learned to accept our identities ourselves through these stories?

In the last ten years, I've reached out to a lot of you, and a lot of you have reached out to me. This phenomenon - this fandom - has had a transformative effect on so many lives!

I think the greatest success of My Little Pony: A New Generation is the fact that that love - that respect for FiM's profound legacy is celebrated in every frame.

Like Sunny, we are all left with the knowledge that the adventures of the Mane Six are things of the past. Like Sunny, we are left with the knowledge that they can only lkve on through our actions in the present, and in our hearts.

We are the inheritors of a joyous responsibility - to keep the dream alive. To prove that friendship is magic.

-Sprocket

If you enjoy essays like these, please consider supporting my work on Patreon. You can also follow Heart Full of Pony on Tumblr

Comments

[Seraphem]

c.tenor.com/vExdhAuxbwcAAAAC/my-little-pony-clap.gif

[Olden Bronie]

You are absolutely right, Sprocket. The magic of friendship, the heart of Equestrian, carries on. Sunny showed the spirit of love, acceptance and heart and brought the magic back. As she said, it was up to each pony to come together. But her faith and trust in friendship saw her and her friends through. It a message I hope we all remember.

[Reese]

Thank you for your thoughts, and I'm glad you enjoyed the movie. :)

I did too, and I'm even more looking forward to the show, now, which I think is a good sign for it!