Friendship is Card Games: The Return of Discord · 11:45am Aug 7th, 2022
IDW never stopped being a thing, but there was a brief pause in their pony comics as the generations shifted. My pause had to be much longer, since I wasn’t sure how long the initial arc would be. But issue #3 is out and only tangentially related to the first two, so let’s what those two entail.
Issue #1
Ugh. Not a good first impression visually speaking. Say what you will about the CalArts influence on the Tell Your Tale shorts, but it’s better than trying to make 3D models look good in 2D. I know Amy Mebberson’s trying her best here, but I honestly hope they transition to TYT style in future issues. Sadly, that doesn’t appear to be on the docket.
… Okay, in the time it took me to write that, I got used to it. I think the issue here is just that they’ve done so little with the 3D models that it’s taking time for my brain to readjust.
In any case, I appreciate that some part of G5 media is acknowledging the ties to the previous generation. The use of Argyle is especially nice. I do like how a stallion literally from the previous generation is the tie to Old Equestria.
Also, filly Sunny trying to spot Canterlot from her house is adorable… but apparently the capital has become a lost city? I’m not sure how that happens when it’s attached to a mountain. Kind of hard to miss.
I do like the design of the Gate of the Ancients, but I have to wonder what it was called when it was built. Also how Flurry Heart felt about being left out. Rainbow Dash got two Elements of Loyalty on there!
“So long as you make sure no earth pony, pegasus, or unicorn ever feels lesser than because of who they are (sic,) Canterlot will always be your home.”
Argyle, product of his society that he is, can’t avoid a degree of hippocentricity that would ironically be seen as old-fashioned in Twilit Era Canterlot, which makes me wonder how many generations erased all mention of the city’s non-pony residents before he was even born. (Also, I do appreciate how Canterlot is somewhere between Jerusalem and heaven itself in Argyle’s mind.)
“Do you think Twilight would be proud of me?”
Sunny really is the closest thing My Little Pony has to a religiously motivated protagonist. Twilight had Celestia, who for all of the glorification in her student’s mind, was still a physically present mare with quirks, foibles, and clearly defined likes and dislikes. Sunny’s working with a memory of a memory, a legend that’s mostly faded to myth and thus inflated to mythic proportions. Even after restoring magic and friendship in both gross and subtle ways, she can’t be sure that the Princess of Friendship would approve.
Pipp, meanwhile, worships at the hoof of the almighty algorithm, ineffable and omnipresent.
Hmm. I know the continuity here is completely disconnected from Tell Your Tale, but it does say something that they’ve already covered the “Izzy feels left out” story beat. Also the “Izzy is too socially maladjusted from a life of isolation and also possible neurodivergence to really engage with other ponies” beat.
I have to wonder how much strategic depth flyball can have if pegasi have only been flight-capable for a few weeks. Months at most.
Heh. Speaking of continuity disconnection, here earth pony magic appears to be a much more subtle sort life-sensing divination than the “stomp and sprout” model the animation went with. They really couldn’t have given the comic writers some kind of indication of what was to come?
Hmm. Easily scared butterflies. Sorry, butterfillies. I can’t imagine who that might harken back to…
Misspelling Izzy’s name on her cup is a lovely detail.
Ooh, I like the three-tribes statue. Less so it nearly crushing one of the construction workers.
Talking is a free action, and Izzy will exploit that to its fullest.
Interesting how Sunny’s magic seems more stable, but we did see that in Make Your Mark during her dive into the void.
“So if magic is going haywire, it can’t be about friendship.”
Tell that to the episode writers. 
Zipp does acknowledge that intertribal tension can weaken magic, but that’s not the plot device we’re going with today.
Hmm. One of the mineral MacGuffins has mysteriously disappeared. Whoever could be responsible for such a thing?
Really, Pipp? Not even going to mention that you and your friends are on the case? Just spreading panic in the name of informing the masses? I thought she was a streamer, not a news site.
It is fun to see Zipp in investigation mode, though her saying this is her first case really underscores how little coordination there was between Entertainment One and IDW. Heck, I only just noticed that Sunny’s lighthouse is… well, Sunny’s lighthouse, the way it was before it got demolished. They didn’t even mention the new playset. Which makes Hitch’s ability to talk to Cloudpuff raise further questions.
I’m legitimately unsure whether any of the creatures Izzy mentions actually exist. Probably not, but given the raccoonicorns and pegasnails, would platiponies and pugasi really be that strange?
I do love Cloudpuff’s reaction to the scent. I imagine it’s literally indescribable.
It’s clear that the writer thinks very little of Pipp. Given that they only had the movie to work with, I can’t blame them.
Ugh, this is just like that one issue where the other Crusaders disregarded all of Scootaloo’s suggestions just so the story could set up a rapport between her and the Occupational Therapy Patient of the Week.
… Okay, how in the name of anything resembling sanity is Canterlot in the middle of a forest while still being relatively intact? To say nothing of how a cave formed around the city gates and only the city gates. I know we’re getting explanations in the next issue. This had better be one of them.
Issue #2
Okay, Sunny fangirling over the Gate of the Ancients is delightful, and her calling them “sacred” supports my earlier point. That said, claiming it was built “when Canterlot became home to the royal princesses,” plural? Definitely some historical warping showing there.
I won’t lie, it hurts to see Donut Joe’s shop derelict and… with a boarded-up window? I hadn’t thought about it in the previous issue, but there are definite signs of decline here. Ponies didn’t just abandon Canterlot in a night; this was more of a steady degeneration… though still swift enough that the familiar aesthetic is still in place.
Sunny’s comment on how hard it must be to maintain a state of harmony is poignant, but also subtly insulting. Celestia’s reign lasted for a millennium and change, whereas Twilight…
Well, we’ll get to that.
Pipp’s taking pictures of the throne room… with a phone whose battery died last issue. Because we weren’t having enough continuity issues as it was.
Also, Sunny does know of Celestia and Luna. I honestly wasn’t sure. Likewise Chrysalis, Sombra, and even the Storm King.
The throne room appears to be intact aside from some tapestry decay. Even the windows held up.
Hang on, Pipp’s battery died again. There’s an amusing parallel here with the fluctuating magic.
I do like the harkening to the Mad Hatter’s tea party in the catacombs… which apparently followed the city down the mountain. (Though given who we’re dealing with, that’s honestly not that odd. Heck, the gate might have actually been a portal to the Canterhorn; it’s certainly explain what would otherwise be an astonishingly spacious cave.)
Reginald Fursome, presumably a descendant of Tiberius, is also delightful.
Yes, enter Discord. Who is, upon further reflection, likely responsible for Canterlot’s current nonsensical location. Saying “There’s nopony who comes to Canterlot without my knowing about it” implies he’s been basically using the city as a hermitage since it was abandoned, deftly explaining what happened to both.
Also, Sunny name-dropping Starlight, Trixie, and Thorax. The last of whom only underscores the rampant hippocentrism on display.
Even Discord’s magic is susceptible to separating the crystals. Interesting detail. You wouldn’t think chaos would be so dependent on unity. At least, I wouldn’t.
The different generations’ visual designs do make me wonder… well, about the different visual designs. At least the Generations comics had the G1 ponies come from a different universe.
I do appreciate the prepared rejoinders to Sunny’s nitpicking. Discord dalt with th original Twilight; he knows exactly what to expect from her disciple.
Good to see Spike get some representation, even if it’s just a panel or two.
And now we come to the absurd part: What destroyed the Twilit Era was the exact same plot as the series finale, except this time it worked. And not only did it work a mere generation after the last time, Twilight did nothing about it until “truly terrible things happened, much of which is far too frightful to describe.” At which point she decided that the best thing to do was bind all the magic in the world to the harmony of the tribes. All because of a single mare. Because if there’s one thing Twilight Sparkle doesn’t know how to handle, it’s a unicorn with a twisted ideology.
Oh, and by the time this all happened and resolved, Li’l Cheese was still a foal. And let’s not forget the earth filly whose parents told her to stop coming to lessons because Fluttershy isn’t a unicorn. (Granted, given that this a ponified version of Mei Lee, the protagonist of Turning Red, I don’t expect complete rationality from her mother.)
Yeah, I’m not buying it. My pet hypothesis, my sincere hope is that Discord is twisting the truth beyond all recognition. I don’t know whether it’s to make himself look better, to use Twilight to appeal to Sunny through her idol, to tell what he’s convinced himself actually happened after years of isolation warped his memory far beyond the facts, or even stranger reasons. But I cannot accept this version of things at face value. Not when this kind of thing directly impacted Twilight’s friends and she still let the situation fester until the world nearly ended. To say nothing of the continued refusal to acknowledge non-pony sapients.
Side note: It’s possible that the mare responsible for this mess went on to become the mysterious alicorn seen at the stinger of the Make Your Mark special, but given the vast discontinuity between G5 media that’s been established in just two issues of these comics, that seems like coincidental correlation at best.
Discord’s memories twisting over time is justified by his thought process when magic returned. He was convinced that ponykind would inevitably turn against one another with magic an option… even though they had to come together in order to awaken magic, and turning against one another again would remove magic from the equation.
In short, Discord actually has gone insane. His speaking for Izzy doesn’t help. Using hopelessly warped logic, he’s convinced himself that what he’s doing is both necessary and right, and the slightest excuse is all he needs to put his doubts to rest. Never mind how his efforts at making the world a safer, more peaceful place has already almost killed multiple ponies. The fact that he, Lord of Chaos, is trying to bring peace and order could be a cause or a symptom of his madness. It’s hard to tell.
And in case all of that didn’t make it clear, the “No more mutants” line does. Quoting Wanda Maximoff is not a sign of sound mental health. It also hints at grief being a strong motivator. Part of what Discord lied about may be what and who was lost in whatever cataclysm actually happened. It’s especially telling when he’s inherited one of Fluttershy’s worst traits, a tendency to smother her charges in the name of keeping them safe. And he sees all of equinity as under his care now that magic’s returned.
There’s also the question of whether destroying the Pegasus Crystal will destroy magic or free it. But that’s a different matter.
In all, this is what the comics have often been, officially endorsed fan fiction. And like any fan fiction, it was working with the information available at the time of its writing, which was just the movie. (Really says something that both the animation and the comics can’t seem to think of a good plot beyond “threaten to take away magic now that it’s back.”)
Still, this is a good conflict and a fascinating way to incorporate one of the best antagonists of G4. I just hope that the alleged history really is more the ramblings of a madcreature than the truth.
Canterlot Pilgrim 1W
Creature — Pony Cleric
Hoofcraft — When Canterlot Pilgrim enters the battlefield, if you control three or more Ponies, Pegasi, and/or Unicorns, draw a card.
Izzy was the first pony to set hoof in Canterlot in centuries. She was not the last.
2/2
The First Friendship Festival 2W
Enchantment — Saga
(As this saga and after your draw step, add a lore counter.)
I — Target creature becomes an enchantment and loses all abilities until this Saga leaves the battlefield.
II — Tap up to three target creatures.
III — Exile this Saga, then return it to the battlefield transformed under your control.
Fragments of the Storm
(W) Enchantment Creature — Yeti Warrior
Defender
Fragments of the Storm can block any number of creatures.
Legends say bits of the Storm King are still scattered among Canterlot’s gravel.
1/4
End of an Era 2WW
Sorcery
Destroy all historic permanents. (Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.)
“Life in Equestria has become like a perfect dream. I fear only the day when we must awaken.”
—Princess Emerita Luna, journal
For Your Own Good 3W
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature or planeswalker
Shroud (A permanent with shroud can’t be the target of spells or abilities.)
Enchanted permanent can’t attack or block, has shroud, and loses all other abilities.
“You’ll thank me in time.”
—Discord
Skittish Butterfillies U
Creature — Pony Faerie
Flying
Whenever a player casts a spell, return Skittish Butterfillies to its owner’s hand unless any player pays 1.
Breezies caught in the big folk’s lands at the Ebb of Magic survived by staying out of sight.
2/1
Slushy Landing U
Snow Instant
Target creature you control gains hexproof until end of turn. If that creature is snow, it also gets +0/+4 until end of turn.
Pipp grudgingly admitted that sticky but alive was better than dry but dead.
Lighthouse Observer 1U
Creature — Pony Scout
You may look at the top card of each library any time.
Every lighthouse keeper kept watch in case the other tribes made their move. Some actually wanted them to.
1/2
Twisted Skein 3U
Instant
Choose up to one target artifact, up to one target creature, and up to one target land. Untap the chosen permanents you control. Tap the chosen permanents you don’t control.
Chaotic U (You may cast this spell for its chaotic cost. If you do, choose its targets at random.)
Reginald, Tiberian Scion 2B
Legendary Creature — Beast Advisor
Lifelink
1B, Discard two cards: Put a commander you own into your hand from the command zone. You may also activate this ability if Reginald is in your command zone.
Partner (You can have two commanders if both have partner.)
3/2
Twisted Memory 2B
Sorcery
Casualty 2 (As you cast this spell, you may sacrifice a creature with power 2 or greater. When you do, copy this spell and you may choose a new target for the copy.)
Choose a card type. Exile all cards of that type from target player’s graveyard. That player mills twice that many cards.
Genetic Instability 2BB
Sorcery
Destroy all modified creatures, mutated creatures, and Mutants. (Equipment, Auras the creature’s controller controls, and counters are modifications.)
“Infinite potential includes the potential for disaster.”
—Lyra of the Tentacle Clade
Canterlot Expedition R
Enchantment
Landfall — Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, put a quest counter on Canterlot Expedition.
Remove three quest counters from Canterlot Expedition and sacrifice it: Exile the top two cards of your library. Until the end of your next turn, you may play those cards.
Canterhorn Cougar 2R
Creature — Cat Unicorn
First strike
When Canterhorn Cougar dies, put a first strike counter on target creature you control.
The caretaker keeps larger beasts out of the old city even as his ambient power warps them.
2/2
Fearmonger 3R
Creature — Pegasus Monger
Reach
2: Target creature can’t block this turn. Any
player may activate this ability.
“There’s no such thing as bad publicity. Just publicity that makes ponies scream and run in circles for a bit.”
3/3
Sweetfeather Protege 1G
Creature — Pony Druid
2GG: Sweetfeather Protege gets +3/+3 and becomes a Bear in addition to its other types until end of turn. Activate only once each turn.
Flluttershy’s students found ways to commune with nature both without and within.
2/2
Detective’s Cloudhound 2G
Creature — Dog Mutant
Reach
When Detective’s Cloudhound enters the battlefield, investigate. (Create a colorless Clue artifact token with "2, T, Sacrifice this artifact: Draw a card.”)
Scent trails can be found at any altitude.
1/3
Adaptive Platypony (gu)(gu)
Creature — Pony Chimera
When Adaptive Platypony enters the battlefield, for each kind of counter on permanents you control, put your choice of a +1/+1 counter or a counter of that kind on Adaptive Platypony.
“Twilight blamed me. I take it you will too.”
—Discord, to Sunny
2/2
Baker’s Spiral 1WB
Sorcery
Return target permanent card from your graveyard to the battlefield. You lose life equal to its mana value.
Like life itself, a donut has no true beginning or end. Unlike life, it can still go stale.
March of the Shade-Thralls 1BR
Enchantment — Saga
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after III.)
I, II — Amass Drones 2. (Put two +1/+1 counters on an Army you control. It's also a Drone. If you don’t control an Army, create a 0/0 black Drone Army creature token first.)
III — Target Army you control fights up to one target creature you don’t control.
Discord, the Thaumoclast 1RW
Legendary Planeswalker — Discord
+1: Exile up to one target artifact or enchantment until Discord, the Thaumoclast leaves the battlefield.
-2: Create a 1/1 red and white Beast creature token with vigilance and haste. Put a +1/+1 counter on it for each card exiled with Discord.
-6: Each opponent gets an emblem with “Noncreature spells you cast cost 5 more to cast.” Exile all artifacts and enchantments they control.
3
Canterlot Ruins
Legendary Land
T: Add C.
1R, T: Put a nonland card at random from your graveyard on top of your library.
Canterlot at its lowest still rivals Zephyr Heights for sheer ostentation.
Gate of the Ancients
Land — Gate
T: Add C.
3, T: Put a +1/+1 counter on each of up to X target creatures, where X is the number of differently named Gates you control. Activate only as a sorcery.
Canterlot was open to all who came in friendship.
These two issues are exhibit A for why I think it's just a bad idea to try to connect G4 and G5 directly together. It limits what G5 can do, because now the new writers are obligated to carry the weight of a decade of previous storytelling, but also can't possibly be so faithful and provide a good enough explanation to satisfy old fans. Rather than achieve pleasing nostalgia, bringing back Canterlot just highlights how little sense this all makes and endorses the worst fan theories that G5 proves Twilight was a terrible princess and therefore season 9 sucked and must be redone for pony justice
...I may have been ever so slightly frustrated reading these. And the fact that issue 3 just breaks from all this entirely to do something else raises its own set of questions
There were nuggets of better characterisation then TYT or MYM in these first two issues, but the instant it delved into hopelessly trying to reconcile the two generations, it crashed and burned. I know, I know, nothing's more tiring than hearing a fan whine on about that connection, but it's so true.
I've banged on enough times in enough places about that, so I won't do so again here (besides which, Daedalus summarised it pretty concisely anyway). I will instead content myself with observing that with the movie, as the G4 details were kept so vague and cryptic, it was effortless to picture the past there as involving a version of the Mane 6 and Equestria, but not the version depicted in G4. Which also reconciles all (okay, most of) the other discrepancies, like one-sided cutie marks, nature operating itself, a completely different and much smaller size of the world, far less fantastical magic, earth magic behaving very differently when it does return later, the absence of all other magical creatures, different levels of technology that don't match up and, social media/smartphones excepted, haven't evolved much in the massive timespan, and much more.
But, of course, because the comic writers can only think in the same narrow-minded vision as many fans, they go with making far more direct, explicit connections to G4 canon events, and of course it doesn't work. Namely Canterlot being hidden in a forest, and everything about Discord's story. I don't believe anything about his story being twisted and a lie is intended on the level of the writers, and even if it is, the actual answer isn't likely to be any better. It's just the same poor writing we've seen for years in the comics, just as bad as most of everything in Season 10, except even worse, as this is the only "official", "canon" delve into the history between the two generations (MYM makes it clear the main media isn't delving into that, as much proof as is needed that the G4 connection was largely an executive order to bait Bronies for the movie - their target audience is clearly now just kids who haven't watched and lived with G4), as opposed to just more bad comics lore with no real effect on the main show.
And yes, the decision to basically have the following hunt for Discord be background noise during filler issues thereafter is… a very, very strange one, just making it seem like nopony, and certainly not the writers, are taking any of this seriously. Especially when issue #3 is so… frivolous, even by the standards of solo IDW MLP comics.
As for the art, it is a weird adjustment, but I'll take even straining-to-reconcile-the-3D-designs here over anything in TYT or MYM. You get used to it quick enough. Future issues get a bit better. And Andy Price is drawing for an upcoming issue too! That's bound to be characteristically visually amazing, at least.
Inside Baseball Alert: Lyra of the Tentacle Clade is a holdout of Momir Vig's old-Simic faction in an alternate universe where the ponies we know and love have always lived on Ravnica and the Return arc is already in full swing. She most likely would not understand if you used that potential disaster as a reason why she shouldn't have done that thing she did, at least if her master's claims about his greatest creation are any indication.
Inside Baseball Alert: Sweetfeather Protégé is already a bear as far as Magic is concerned.
Inside Baseball Alert: Oh hey, a Monger. Those immediately stopped being a thing as far as WotC is concerned, but fancards don't have to care.
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G4 already devolved into farce whenever it pretended to have continuity (click blue words!). Trying to be in the same continuity is inherently futile when it couldn't even do that by itself.
More harmony in the various sophonts in the world means less chaos in the various sophonts. Less chaos in the various sophonts means more chaos for Discord. With the crystals separated, Discord has to share with a lot of people.
While I'm not entirely opposed to connecting G4 and G5, I realize it comes with a whole host of issues and was probably best to just avoid. As for what we're shown, I don't need Twilight's Equestria to last forever, but I'd at least like it to look like a solid accomplishment rather than a lucky house of cards.
Personally I would have had it so that Twilight made the Harmony Crystals to make ponies immune to magical theft/drain.
Wow, that sounds pretty awful. Here’s hoping the show never acknowledges it.
Her and who? Her and who, FOME? COME ON, DON'T LEAVE ME IN SUSPENSE HERE! I NEED TO KNOW!
I admittedly only skimmed this issue, but I just assumed that gate thing was meant to be a portal?
Personally, I'm more confused by the concept of Canterlot itself still existing as its own entity. My impression from the G5 movie was that Zephyr Heights was Canterlot, what with it being a white city built on a mountain and all.
Yeah, sorry, but I can't pretend I'm surprised by any of this. There was a time when I could've imagined Twilight taking the throne and continuing the peace and prosperity of Celestia's rule, but after season nine...
camo.fimfiction.net/DRXXmWTiC2Cq05DzNx8mTw_v_-jthb1LOjX3e0odzRg?url=https%3A%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2FO4XF83ECB4ihV9ZmMyTeAV8YU7KOO6WBRNIEGV4WtXEK04-pLeSMBv9S-PFYkoo5g5kcdKx3r-heWgs2_0DX4rwE0gE3a9_Kqcz1MpAtUoP5xG3jqSbHSNxB7Cclm9ab_4Qgpbu6
...I mean, come on. If anything, it would be weirder if this Twilight's reign wasn't short and disastrous.
Maybe I'm just a pessimist, but this again comes as no surprise to me. I mean, I agree that it's terrible writing, but it's the kind of terrible writing which seems perfectly in line with the Equestria we saw in G4's final seasons. If Equestria could descend into a race war with minimal prompting from one changeling after a thousand years of peace and prosperity under Celestia, then why couldn't some other mare spark a similar conflict a few decades later? If anything, it should be easier the second time, what with there being precedent for it in living memory now. And the only reason the ponies stopped fighting the last two times was because the windigoes showed up. And I don't know why they didn't appear the third time this happened, but whatever the reasons, they're clearly not a factor anymore, so that deterrence is gone.
Which I guess is why Twilight had to create her own deterrence with these crystals: Make new "windigoes," rule through fear, force them all to get along again under threat of magic loss. It clearly didn't work in the long term, but you can see the trail of logic, such as it is. And yes, it's out of character for Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, as we knew her. But from this mare?
camo.fimfiction.net/DRXXmWTiC2Cq05DzNx8mTw_v_-jthb1LOjX3e0odzRg?url=https%3A%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2FO4XF83ECB4ihV9ZmMyTeAV8YU7KOO6WBRNIEGV4WtXEK04-pLeSMBv9S-PFYkoo5g5kcdKx3r-heWgs2_0DX4rwE0gE3a9_Kqcz1MpAtUoP5xG3jqSbHSNxB7Cclm9ab_4Qgpbu6
...Yeah, I could see it.
lh5.googleusercontent.com/eV7qK7PWbh2gWlyfj5U1tQsjwmYmmTW7tUnw3R-sm9i1ExoMJVzMkIecSmGL1rucXlWn0IqcGFTZT7oufUUK4ahG9-ddY6t4c4FQR4IZMfYfOpPm_1jcpqmRuH7GEgf8vC90c8E00kiQdxSHwvHTY1w
They took it and pushed it somewhere else.
I'd be more surprised if she didn't have some spare batteries on hand knowing how obsessed she is.
If Zipp was practicing how to fly using fans, I can buy that she was also studying rule books and strategy analyses for an ancient sport she couldn't yet physically participate in.
It's
funnydepressing because it's true!5678117
Nightmarish. The word you're looking for is nightmarish. (And not in a good way.)
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I’m glad you’re always willing to return to that well when it’s appropriate. Me, I’m a coward who prefers to just not think about those last two seasons. Another reason why I can’t stand the G4 -> G5 connection, as it requires acknowledging them as something that happened.
Hit the nail on the head as always, buddy! I didn’t raise the “this is right in line with the writing of Season 9” point myself, even though I was well aware of it, because I figured it was common knowledge and didn’t want to depress myself typing it all out again. So, ah, thanks for taking the mantle up!
The mare we see in the comics clearly has the same manestyle as the shadowy G5 alicorn, it's meant to be her. Especially because she was probably planned during the late stages of the movie's production. The original plan was for Sprout to be corrupted by dark magic and turn into a recurring villain for the show, when they threw that out they likely came up with her as a backup.
I feel like people are way too eager to jump on the 'Twilight fucked up' train. Even disregarding the fact that Discord is all but a reliable narrator, it's made very clear in the issue, and I sincerely don't get why people misinterpret it, that Twilight binding the magic to the crystals was necessary for them to even have magic at all after what happened. She didn't point a gun to ponykind's head and tell them 'be nice or no magic', they wouldn't have had magic either way without the crystals. Whatever the alicorn they were dealing with did, it clearly altered the way magic worked. Of course, we'll see how much of this will actually be relevant to the show.
I find a lot of people seem to be pessimistic about G5 for no real valid reason. Or at least, no valid reason that couldn't be said to be a problem for G4 too. Nonsensical backstories? Shoddy continuity? Ignoring evils at large to have slice of life plots? DYEWTS? Not to mention it's IDW we're talking about. With how low that had gotten this is amazing by comparison. I suspect a lot of it is just people hating on the new thing because it's new, or not wanting a series where the characters they liked are dead.
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It's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it.
lh5.googleusercontent.com/wEhfLLNwdqdvuBV-toxY8319kHw1cU_olLvvqXQjLuFyCcH50mypFTFjYjkRB0RHHbBe4RfwAc6j5vXoeN6MUv9E396qjKNPM04lrjBzJjBJ9yrvqPVcOoaI4rpUhCEGsAIMnR7jWNfJKs_ZCkjhJl4
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People say that it's Twilight's fault because the comic directly says that it's Twilight's fault. The actual line in the comic is "To make sure magic never pitted unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies against one another, Twilight gathered all the world's magic and placed it in three crystals." No mention of her doing it to make sure ponies kept their magic, or to stop some crazy magical thing the villain was doing. No mention of the mystery unicorn doing anything aside from turning people racist like Chrysalis did. The only one who clearly took any direct action which would alter how the rules of magic works is Twilight. And Discord makes clear in the following page that he believes that ponies losing their magic when they don't get along was both the intentional end result of this plan, and a good thing to do (though he apparently thinks Twilight didn't go far enough).
I get that you want to be optimistic about this story, and that you want to give Twilight the benefit of the doubt here, but the writer's intentions seem pretty clear to me. At this point, I think we're better off just hoping that the TV series/movies ignore all this to do their own thing.
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Just a panel above the one you're quoting, I'll point you to "Then truly terrible things happened" over a shot of the exact same purple clouds that the alicorn is shown shrouded in in previous panels. Arguing there's no sign of her acting is arguing for reading a visual medium like a script. For that matter I still don't get why people are so upset that in season 9 the villain with established mind control powers manipulated ponies. But I guess you've made it clear what hive of thinking you stick to, so there's not much point in arguing about those parts. I will agree that the alicorn's plan being a repeat of the season 9 ending (even if a generation apart) is bothering and that it's best to hope the show ignores this stuff, but willfully riding on the 'Twilight ruined Equestria' train does you no favours.
5678546
A reminder that the show's writers have never read the comics, not even when the Season 7 finale hinged on them.
5678546
"Truly terrible things" could refer to anything, including, potentially, more windigoes, but also just the second pony race war in general. It's a very intentionally ambiguous line which is open to reader interpretation. And even if I go with your (I'll even admit, probably correct) interpretation that it's meant to be the mystery unicorn making that cloud, that's still not any indication that she is the one personally responsible for screwing up the rules of magic (or that Twilight trapping all magic everywhere in these crystals was necessary to stop her), when we already have another character directly stated and shown to be changing the rules of magic herself. What you're saying is only the most charitable interpretation of the situation, not the most likely one.
And if that's how you choose to headcanon the fall of Equestria, that's fine, but I'd like to remind you that your interpretation is not the only one, and that the loss of magic being Twilight's fault is the most obvious and logical conclusion here. So I don't understand why you're chiding others for coming to that same conclusion when it's obviously what the writer intended.
Maybe because we've seen what mind control looks like many times before in this show, and season nine provided no indication that Chrysalis was using any form of it? Again, cool headcanon, but not supported by the text, so it doesn't excuse bad writing.
I also don't appreciate your language here, implying that I'm bandwagoning and can't form my own opinions, as if I'm an idiot just following the crowd, and as if nobody can independently come to the same conclusions about these stories and characters. I've been civil with you, so I'd thank you not to insult me just for having a different opinion than you.
For the record, I don't think that the fall of Equestria is Twilight's fault because of what anybody else has said. I think that it's her fault because I watched seasons eight and nine, considered Twilight's actions, characterisation, and circumstances, and concluded that her taking over Equestria was a terrible idea which would end disastrously for everybody. And I said all this before G5's premise was even announced. I consider G5 (and this comic in particular) as vindication, not as the original basis for my opinion.
5678558
I don't intend to annoy FoME further. /mlp/ is that way, have fun there.
5678572
lh6.googleusercontent.com/txMtFp01LbaVd72koVlhQ0p7QdtDA_cFAg0v8wnfp_Vc7GKl2beQ29LixvleOli8_1isOsrcd4_JLlwVws1MQoN9LFo7dpCVXpWOLp0MRyzI1rv1Aw23HskkKizugaw3B02v9yg0V9lMBv37dXV-uQ0
5678575
Hey, as long as you don't post those takes in the threads I lurk. Or you could, I suppose, wouldn't be the first time.
5678617
Nah, I don't actually post on /mlp/. I'm a lurker too. Might occasionally comment on something in the FimFic general, but that's it. Who has the time to argue with anons all day, y'know?
You know, I had plans still tonight, before you showed up with your dastardly inspiration-providing. Hmph. Well, I suppose you might as well have a link to the horsewords you prompted.
(I kid, to be clear. :) Er. With the tone. That's for comedic effect. I am, unfortunately, indeed now quite behind schedule after that unexpected burst of writing and will need to figure out how to make that work, but it's so rare I do get such inspiration that I'm much more pleased than annoyed. :) And not annoyed at you, in any case, since it's not like you deliberately targeted me with this or something. :D)
Biggest elephant in the room (no pun intended) is what about the other non-pony creatures? Heck, even if Sunny knows who the baddies are, does she know what they are? Well okay, she clearly recognises Discord so it's more a question of what happened?
The general populace agrees that the latter is better than constantly saying that "you can feel everything", unless you're Toph. Personally, I find the former better since I believe unicorns materialising plants is definitely something they can do as well. In other words, earth ponies are hornless geomancers.
Basically, disturbing the crystals will cause a haywire. They need a 'Do not Touch' sign sometimes.
I blame Spike.
He probably 'talks' to Cloudpuff the same way he talks to McSnips-a-lot in TYT episode 1.
Regarding Pipp's phone power inconsistency. Maybe it powers at least as of now on magic?
Twilight put the world's magic into the crystals. Even Discord's, even Starlight's, heck even the two princesses. So other races can be subjugated by the ponies bickering among themselves possibly.
All in all. G5 is off to a slow and rocky start.