Over two hours had passed since the movie had begun.
Ever since that torturous Sunday night Rainbow Dash had forced her friends to watch Man of Titanium together at her house, no one at CHS was more pumped than her for the release of arguably the most-anticipated comic book movie of all time: Nightbat v Stellarman: Dawn of Honor. A movie every fan had been dying to see even before it was confirmed to be in the works. And now it was here. Since its release, Rainbow had never once kept still or closed her mouth about it during lessons, lunchtime or even after school.
During the waiting time for the weekend, however, the feedback she'd been hearing hadn't been what she was expecting. She'd heard more than a few complaints on movie news websites as well listened in on ones from several students around CHS. But being Rainbow Dash, she'd shoved those niggling thoughts to the back of her mind and brought the others with her to the movie theatre the moment Saturday began. Judging from how close she was to exploding with enthusiasm, Applejack claimed it was a miracle she hadn't hogtied and dragged them all to the movie.
Whereas Rainbow Dash had engulfed practically every IC Comics media known to man, not everyone in the group was as dedicated to superhero culture as her. Sunset, having only been a resident in the human world for a few years, knew the basic stuff from both Nightbat and Stellarman but otherwise had limited knowledge of the comics. Applejack was more of a fan of the Spectacle Cinematic Universe and had engaged in more than a few verbal battles with Rainbow over which of the two heroes would truly win. Fluttershy mainly kept quiet whenever the words "superhero" or "comics" were brought up whereas Pinkie Pie didn't waste any time babbling on about her love for practically every Spectacle movie, even the less-than-well-received ones nobody liked mentioning. Rarity, of course, displayed absolutely no interest in comic books, merely seeing them as "infantile amusement with garish wardrobes". Since transferring from Crystal Prep, Twilight had come out about her deep interest in both IC and Spectacle which surprised everyone (Rainbow in particular had pegged her for more of a Space Quest or Professor What fanatic).
And now the end credits had finally begun to roll. As most of the audience let out tiny relieved groans as they stood and stretched their stiff joints, Rainbow Dash's eyes remained glued to the screen, grinning ear to ear. Everyone else wasted no time collecting their things and making their way out, murmuring to each other in either excited or disgruntled tones. But Rainbow and the rest of her friends didn't move. Rainbow finally gained control of herself and brushed some spilled popcorn off her lap, looking at each of the others around her. Sunset, Applejack and Fluttershy filled the three seats next to her while Rarity, Twilight and Pinkie were in the next row of seats in front.
"So, guys, what'd ya think?"
Her enthusiastic question finally broke the silence, startling the others slightly while Rarity snapped out of her slumped half-awake position. While Rainbow looked like she could scream in excitement at any moment, the others' expressions begged to differ; Applejack and Fluttershy were stone-faced, Sunset had her eyebrow cocked in a doubtful manner, Twilight eerily seemed pretty angered and Rarity, along with Pinkie, appeared as though they could fall asleep again any second. Then Sunset spoke up.
"Well, umm..." She paused, visibly struggling over her next words. "It was, uhh..." Another awkward pause.
At last, everyone gave their answer in unison:
"Meh."
"Um... okay, I guess."
"Passable."
"Horrible!"
"Unbearably dreary!"
"Not fun."
Rainbow's eager smile finally faded away at the differing responses and melted away into a stare of horror.
"Wh-What?" She finally sputtered, gesturing wildly to the screen, "Are you kidding me? That was awesome! That showed two of the greatest superheroes of all time fighting on the big screen together!"
"Yeeeah, but... not a whole lot else to offer." Applejack replied tentatively.
"Well, umm, it was... alright, I guess, Rainbow," Fluttershy put in quietly, "But, umm, I'm sort of with Applejack on this."
"I couldn't agree more, darling! That was quite possibly one of the most joyless experiences I've ever had!" Rarity's fingers tugged at the bags under her eyes to further exaggerate her point.
"But IC Comics is dark and gritty! It's supposed to be like that!"
"I think you're confusing 'dark' with 'pessimistic edgelord fanfiction', Rainbow Dash." Twilight retorted, her tone sounding more angry than it ever had.
"Yeah, for a comic book movie, I didn't get any fun out of it." came Pinkie's downcast reply. "It's more Yawn of Honor than it is Dawn of Honor."
"What are you talking about? There were plenty of fun moments!" protested Rainbow Dash, starting to become angrier. Fluttershy shrunk down in her seat, wishing she'd gone to see The Jungle Story instead as the arguing only intensified. "Action's always fun to watch unless you're a joyless..."
"Okay, hold on! HOLD ON!"
The six friends finally broke up their spat and all turned to look at Sunset. She pressed two fingers against her temples, taking a long calming breath before she elaborated.
"Now obviously, we all seem to have different thoughts on this movie. So rather than shout over each other like children, why don't we calmly discuss our opinions on it? Okay?" Taking some soothing breaths of their own, the group adjusted themselves into more comfortable positions and nodded simultaneously. Rainbow spoke up first.
"First off, you gotta admit, Ben Hooffleck was awesome as Nightbat!" A few quick declarations of agreement instantly rang out, soothing Rainbow's nerves slightly.
"Funny, I don't recall you saying such promising things about him a couple a' months ago." Applejack responded with a smirk before doing her best raspy impersonation of Rainbow, earning a scarlet blush from her, "'No, he ruined Scaredevil! He doesn't deserve another chance!'"
"You'd think she would've learned after that Hayth Ledger fellow surprised everyone." Rarity murmured across to Pinkie, making her give a quiet giggle in return.
"Yeah, pretty ironic that the guy everyone thought was a horrible choice for Nightbat ending up being the best part of the movie." Sunset added with a smirk of her own.
"I know, right?" Rainbow blurted, a Cheshire Cat grin spreading across her face, "I mean, he got the stern and brooding side of Bruce Hayne when he was, like, in the Batlair with Alfred, especially his 'world's greatest investigator' side! But, like, at the party and stuff, he showed off the charming playboy millionaire side with the 'hey, ladies' and stuff like that!"
Everyone else just say back with relaxed smiles as Rainbow carried on gushing.
"And when he's actually Nightbat, that was so cool how he had that intimidating, y'know, voice changer thingy and not that stupid growly voice like Christian Bridle! And-and his fighting scenes, especially that part in the warehouse were just... wow! That was so Nightbat! I mean, he was a beast! It was like action straight out of the Larkham games!" Twilight finally interrupted her friend's ecstatic babbling, clearly not sharing the same happiness as her.
"Okay, fair points on his performance as Bruce Hayne, Rainbow, but the fact that Zack Shafter chose to make this Nightbat kill is what brings him down for me." Rainbow's smile noticeably faded a bit.
"I know, it was really uncomfortable to see him shooting and running criminals over with no hesitation." Fluttershy agreed.
"Yeah, it was like Zack Shafter was trying to scream 'Hey, look at me, I'm edgy!'" added Pinkie, waving her hands over her head as she did her best male voice.
"But guys, this is an older grittier version of Nightbat where he drops his rule after Sparrow was killed by the Jester." came Rainbow's protest, "Come on, you all saw his graffitied costume in the Batlair!"
"Even so, Rainbow, I may not be a huge comic fan but even I felt uneasy watching Nightbat of all heroes be completely okay with killing." Sunset replied with a slight shudder.
"Although I don't condone his more... barbaric methods of dealing with crime, I must admit that ravishing five o'clock shadow mixed well with those chest muscles." Applejack could only roll her eyes as her fashionista friend stared off into space with a goofily smitten grin.
"Yeah, I think Micolt Keaton, Kevin Conrein and him are my favourite versions of Nightbat." Rainbow continued, ignoring Rarity's swooning. “And you gotta admit, Awe Woman was pretty great too.” Much like with Nightbat, that statement was also met with a variety of "definitely" and "of course".
"Yeah, she did steal every scene she was in, whether she was Diana Prance or in her costume." Sunset gave a small grin as well as a shrug and hand wave of agreement.
"I gotta say, Gal Gallop surprised me." Applejack added, a smile of her own creeping onto her lips, "I mean, she didn't have Awe Woman’s Amarezonian muscle but she was still pretty darn good." Sunset nodded.
"Yeah, she was mysterious and looked and sounded foreign in a way I could see her coming from... maybe, ancient Greece, sort of Graeco-Roman or something. I mean, it's hard to figure out where exactly she would come from but I have to say, it works to its advantage in this case."
"Not to mention that positively gorgeous ensemble she was wearing in that scene with her and Bruce Hayne!" Rarity cried out with an awed smile, making a mental note to use that design in her next line of dresses.
“Plus her theme music was awesome!" Rainbow earned a few chuckles as she hummed out a few of those contagious notes from Awe Woman's music. Except for Pinkie.
"Why was she even there?"
Everyone turned in her direction.
"Doesn't she have her own movie coming out next year anyway so there's no point in her being here?" The poofy-haired girl elaborated, miming briefly with her hands as she did so. The rest of her friends gave small murmurs as they pondered over this until Rarity spoke up.
"But still, she and Bruce Hayne had more chemistry than Cart Kent and Lois Lope. And they weren’t even a couple."
“What are you talking about? Cart and Lois had plenty of chemistry together!” Rainbow protested, "They were onscreen in a lot of parts!"
"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, but I think they went from having little chemistry in Man of Titanium to having none here." came Rarity's apologetic but still firm response, "Not once did I believe Lois and Cart were in love in this film."
"Yeah, whenever they were onscreen together, it was just for boring speeches about 'what it means to be a hero' or 'dat-da-da, I’ll save you, Lois' moments." Applejack added in a similar tone. Twilight continued, looking the most annoyed out of all of them.
"The old Stellarman movies with Christopher Reins gave them more chemistry. Heck, their relationship was the entire focus of that old TV show Lois and Cart!"
“Come on, you guys, Lois was still pretty good herself.”
"Oh, right, like figuring out Lex was the bad guy which we already knew, throwing away that Kriptunite spear just so she could almost drown trying to get it back and have Stellarman save her again." came Twilight's sarcastic response, "Yeah, the movie would've been nothing without her." Fluttershy finally spoke up for the first time in the past few minutes, her tone sounding shockingly more stern than earlier.
"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash. I love Amy Adocks, she's a great actress. But she’s just not the snarky, strong, totally-not-a-pushover character Lois Lope normally is, she’s just another bumbling useless damsel in distress who can’t take care of herself so Stellarman can rescue her. Even Maregot Kidder, the original Lois Lope didn't like her performance." The confidence in her eyes instantly vaporised the moment she looked around at the others staring at her.
"Umm, well, I mean, th-that's what I heard about her online." She finished meekly.
“Ooookay then." Sunset awkwardly replied.
"Speaking of Stellarman, uuugh! Talk about boring!" Pinkie's eyes rolled up at the ceiling as she slumped back in her seat. Rainbow turned her attention to her friend, looking even more shocked.
“What do you mean? He looked the part just like in Man of Titanium! He had the costume, the muscles and everything!"
"I dunno, Rainbow, he might have looked the part but he sure didn’t act the part to me." came Applejack's unsure reply.
"Yes, for a superhero who’s supposed to be a symbol of hope, I don't recall him smiling once." Rarity added, giving a small shake of her head in disappointment. "It's hard to root for someone who only looks heroic but never seems interested or has any emotion."
"Yeah, he looked more constipated than heroic." Pinkie bluntly stated, causing Fluttershy to blush deep scarlet.
"Even that scene where the Capital Building blows up and he sees all these dead people around him, he doesn’t look horrified or anything! He looks around like 'Oh. All these people are dead. Sucks.'" Twilight put on a monotone voice along with a disinterested face to further emphasise her point.
"Yeah, I think this is the same problem I had with Man of Titanium." Sunset spoke up after compressing her stifled laughter from Twilight's impression, "I don't know any IC Comics heroes who brood aside from Nightbat. And I especially didn't think of Stellarman as one of them."
"And that’s another thing that made it unbearable for me, Sunset." Rarity responded, "It was too dark and gloomy."
“Newsflash, Rarity: it's IC Comics. That’s what makes it mature.”
"Rainbow, being gritty and miserable does not equal 'mature'." Twilight countered, anger present in her voice once more.
"Yeah, I’m all for dark stories but the entire movie was so, what's the word..." Applejack pondered for a moment. "...joyless." Sunset gave a nod across to her hat-donning friend.
"Not even the colours stood out, or even the ones on Stellarman's suit or during the day scenes. It was all nothing but monochrome."
“What, you want it to be childish and goofy like Spectacle's movies?” All that question did was earn her some offended glowers, especially from Pinkie Pie. The snarkiness on Rainbow's face faded as she swore she saw fire raging in the normally-plucky girl's eyes.
"Rainbow Dash, I don’t go to IC movies to watch Spectacle movies." Applejack replied, animosity clear as crystal in her tone. "I’ll watch a Spectacle movie if I wanna watch a Spectacle movie."
"And besides, you can handle mature subject matter in a movie and still make it positive, fun and upbeat for all audiences. Disneigh, Dreamfactory, Bixar and the Spectacle Cinematic Universe have proven this countless times!" Twilight added, straightening her glasses.
"That's true." Fluttershy stated with some air of confidence, "Safaritropolis handled its dark subject matter on racism well and that wasn’t dark or depressing." That gained her some nods of agreement from all except Rainbow.
"And how about Deathpool?" Everyone relaxed into their seats with amused grins, letting Pinkie ramble on excitedly about one of her favourite Spectacle movies. "I mean, that movie was hilarious because, you know, it's Deathpool! But it also had all that stuff with the violence and the gore and the sword fighting and Wade’s illness and him turning ugly so he could get to marry his girlfriend and him wanting to see his girlfriend despite him looking like an avocado had..."
“Yeah, well the Christopher Neighlan movies were great and they were dark.” Rainbow interrupted with a frown before she could babble on any further.
"They were but they still had plenty of colour and funny moments to balance it out," Sunset responded calmly.
"I can quote some funny lines from it whenever I want." Nobody heard Fluttershy mumble under her breath.
"Speaking of which, that’s another thing, darling: there’s no sense of humour or even wit in this movie." Rarity declared, giving another tug at the bags beneath her eyes, "I've overheard from Sweetie Belle's chatter with her friends that the Neighlan films and the IC Comics cartoons had witty humour and snarky one-liners, so why couldn’t this?"
"Yeah, it wouldn’t have hurt for Stellarman or Lois to crack a joke, or even Nightbat." Applejack added, "Heck, I'm more lookin' forward to the Buildo Nightbat Movie than the next IC movie. That at least'll be fun." At that statement, Rainbow Dash looked as though an icy hand has seized her by the throat.
“But Nightbat’s a dark hero!”
"That doesn’t mean he’s nothing but miserable and uptight." Twilight rebutted once again, "He can smile, be cheerful, make a witty remark and, yes, even laugh."
"I'm sure Zack Shafter's a nice guy but he needs to stop thinking that audiences hate fun." Sunset stated bluntly, making Twilight look back at her and nod.
"And that overstuffed storylines are somehow complex and edgy."
"'Overstuffed'?" Rainbow spluttered, "What's that's supposed to mean?"
"Oh, I don't know, how about Bruce Hayne’s completely pointless Evilseid dream sequence that tells us what we already know, that he fears Stellarman is evil and could wipe out humanity? Or those crammed-in cameos from the Morality Force?"
“Hey, those were cool! Roboman, Fishwhisperer and the Blur were all awesome!”
"I dunno, Dash, they coulda just saved them for their own movies before the Morality Force movie next year." Applejack finally broke up the spat with her own input, "We haven’t even gotten to know them. Heck, I’m surprised they didn’t cram in Emerald Lamp while they were at it."
"Yeah, it’s like starting off the Spectacle Cinematic Universe with Chromium Man then going straight to the Retaliators movie." Sunset gave a little shrug of agreement. Everything went silent for the first time in a while, the music of the end credits still echoing throughout the theatre. At last, Pinkie spoke up again with a short giggle.
"Y'know, I don’t know about you guys, but I actually found Lex Longeing funny."
"Ugh!"
"Come on!"
"Seriously?"
"You're joking, right?" Even Rainbow seemed to be in agreement with their reactions but quickly took on her defiant look once more.
"Honestly, darling, I don’t know how in the world you could take him seriously."
"Yeah, I may not be an IC expert but I’ve heard he’s meant to be Stellarman’s smartest and most menacing villain." Applejack put in, "This guy was just a babbling idiot who runs his mouth quicker than a weed whacker on rocket fuel."
"Exactly!" Twilight blurted out, once again looking extremely vexed at this aspect, "He seemed more like the Jester or even the Puzzler than Lex Longeing."
"Aaaand somebody wanna tell me what was with that creepy part with him feeding that senator a candy?" Sunset asked, "Did he ever do that in the comics?"
"Not in any I've read." came Twilight's deadpan reply.
"Well I guess he coulda been just a liiiiiiiiiiittle more threatening." Pinkie admitted, still smiling at the memories of Lex's scenes, "But to me, he was still the most entertaining part in a whoooole lotta boring."
“But guys, it’s a different and new version of the character. You gotta be open to change, right?”
"Just because it’s different doesn’t automatically make it good, Rainbow. Nothing against Jesse Eisenbuck, he’s a fine actor but it should’ve been Heisenbuck." Twilight responded, "If they really wanted to keep Jesse, he could’ve played Jimmy Oatsen."
"Was he the reporter guy that got shot at the beginning?" Sunset inquired.
"Yeah. Him." came Fluttershy's quiet response which Sunset noticed sounded quite aggravated.
“Come on, he still showed some of Lex’s intelligence.”
Applejack folded her arms, raising an eyebrow at Rainbow's defence.
"Ya mean with that convoluted, hard to follow, idiotic, relies-entirely-on-dumb-luck plan over which he has no control over anyone’s actions but expects them to follow the steps exactly for it to work?" The Stetson-wearing girl couldn't help but give a tiny smirk of victory as no words escaped Rainbow's ready-to-retaliate mouth. Finally she came up with something.
“But he manipulates Nightbat and Stellarman into hating each other.”
"But they’re both complete hypocrites!" Twilight snapped, startling the rainbow-haired girl, "I mean, Stellarman hates Nightbat for not working inside the law, trampling on civil liberties and making everyone live in fear when that's exactly what he's doing!"
"Yeah, and Nightbat hates Stellarman because he's like 'hey, you can’t kill people, you unstable monster. That’s my job!'" Everyone around Pinkie couldn't help bursting into laughter at her best gravelly voice. She didn't notice Rainbow stifling a laugh of her own before hastily rushing to cover it up. Fluttershy sat back up in her seat, her laughter dying down as she finally spoke up again.
"Even their fight was pretty underwhelming."
“What?" Rainbow cried, her eye twitching slightly. It looked as if she could pounce on Fluttershy any second at this point. "How? It was awesome! Come on, we finally got to see them fight on the big screen!”
"For only a few minutes after nearly two hours of boooooring." came Pinkie's reply, tired at this point from all the arguing.
"Well I'll admit, some parts were pretty cool like Stellarman punching him through that building and Nightbat blocking his punch with his arm." Sunset confessed, smiling a bit as she recollected those parts. That smile melted away however. "But a lot of it doesn’t make sense. I mean, Stellarman wanted Nightbat’s help to save his mother, right? Even though he should’ve been able to find her easily like he does with Lois but still, why did he shove Nightbat and start fighting him?"
"Or why didn't he explain the situation quickly like 'Nightbat, Lex is behind everything, he found out our secret identities... somehow and you have to help me save my mother'?" Twilight asked, cocking her eyebrow expectantly.
"Or why didn't Nightbat just make Kriptunite bullets to shoot him with instead of that gas that wears off or that spear?" Fluttershy spoke up with an irritated tone, "He's made Kriptunite bullets in the past and he was shooting those gas pellets out of a gun anyway so why not make dumb bullets?" Her anger wore off when she once again noticed everyone's surprised stares toward her.
"Well, um, that's what I heard somewhere."
“Well the title is Nightbat vs Stellarman, guys. Besides they had to team up to stop Lex in the end.” Rainbow replied once all the stares had left Fluttershy. This time, annoyed looks gathered on everyone's faces.
"Oh, yeah, and all because their moms happen to have the same friggin' name."
"Yep, Nightbat instantly drops all his hatred for Stellarman whose accidental destruction to Megalopolis ended up killing millions including all his employees at Hayne Enterprises after he begs him to 'save Melanie'." Twilight added through clenched teeth.
"Yeah, like 'WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME?!' 'It's his mother's name!' 'Alrighty then, let's be best buds! Wanna stop Lex?' 'Sure thing, pal!'" Pinkie acted out, switching positions between each character impression.
"And to top it all off, who calls their mother by their first name?" asked Rarity indignantly. By this point, Rainbow Dash was beginning to look desperate.
“But guys, you don’t understand! This is great writing right here! It’s because Nightbat realises Stellarman is every bit as human as him because he has a mother he wants to save...” Her persistent rambling was cut off by Twilight reaching up and pressing a finger against her lips.
"It’s not I don’t understand the 'meaning' behind it, Rainbow Dash. It’s just an incredibly stupid, lazy and contrived way to end the fight."
"Yeah, Stellarman having a mom shouldn’t change his motivations no matter what her name is." Applejack stated as Twilight removed her finger from Rainbow's flabbergasted face. "If they really wanted to make 'em both seem more human, they coulda just called for a timeout and talked to each other like rational people would."
"I actually never noticed the similarities in their names until now." Sunset chuckled to herself.
“Well... I..." Rainbow Dash sputtered, "Y-You gotta admit, it led to a pretty sweet climax with Stellarman, Nightbat and Awe Woman fighting Extinction... right?”
"Who looks more like that cave ogre from Master of the Rings than Extinction!" Her uneasy smile quickly faltered at Twilight's furious response. "Not to mention it contradicts his hatred of Kriptunians by making another one!"
"Indeed." Rarity chimed in, "I thought it was Lex Longeing who was the villain, not some lumbering CGI beast."
"Yeah, why couldn't just battle Lex in his signature robot suit?" asked Pinkie, "I even saw a toy of that at the mall last week! A TOY! I mean, if you make a toy about something from a movie, it's gotta be in the movie! DUH!"
"And Lex somehow got an unstoppable monster from combining his DNA with General Vod’s Kriptunian DNA? How does that make any sense?" Sunset added, looking just as confused.
"It doesn't!" Twilight snapped, "And you know why? Because it's the exact same origin story as Toxicity Man’s from that terrible movie Stellarman 4: The Search for Unity! It's as if Zack Shafter was trying to recreate it!" Everyone swore they could see smoke and sparks pouring out of Rainbow's ears as she struggled to think of one last defence.
“But... it led to the scene where Stellarman died! I mean, come on, that was so awesome and emotional to see him stab Extinction but also sacrifice himself for the whole world, wasn't it?” Giving a roll of her eyes, Twilight breathed in, ready to deflect it. But someone beat her to it.
Not Applejack. Or Sunset. Or Rarity. Or even Pinkie Pie.
"Awesome? Emotional? Try lazy and too early! I mean, what was Zack thinking while writing this part? 'Say, fans, remember all that stuff you loved in the comics? Well we're stuffing it all into one movie including the saddest Stellarman comic storyline ever! And we'll completely strip away what you loved about this story in the first place and just show it to you because we think you're all a bunch of drooling idiots who'll pay money to see whatever you loved from the comics on the big screen, even if it's portrayed in the laziest way possible!' I didn't feel any sadness when Stellarman died, not one ounce!
"There were thousands of comics made about him before The Death of Stellarman came out! In this movie, they hardly focused on his character and now they're trying to manipulative sadness out of us with this lazy excuse for an adaptation, especially when they’ve already confirmed they're making a Morality Force movie! Zack should have taken a cue from Joss Whinneydon and realised that you can’t just have these type of moments for shock value; you have to earn these moments!
"What's more powerful? Seeing the Man of Titanium who we've barely focused on get stabbed in one swoop in the second movie of a new IC movie universe? Or saving Extinction for the Morality Force movie where he slowly strips away Stellarman's life in the ultimate battle followed by the members of the Force attending his funeral, making the audience emotional because they fear that maybe he's really not coming back, especially after we've built more of a connection with him? HUH?!"
Her fingernails digging into the arms of her seat as her nostrils flared in rage, a calm breath finally left Fluttershy as she relaxed her muscles. Looking around, she noticed everyone around her looking terrified out of their minds and leaning away from her, eyes wide as saucers. Coughing awkwardly, Fluttershy's timid demeanor returned as she brushed a lock of pink hair out of her face.
"Well, uhh, that’s what I heard at least."
"...You’re a fan, aren’t you, Fluttershy?" Sunset broke the silence at last.
"Possibly."
"Oh, who the heck am I kidding?" Everyone gazed at Rainbow Dash in shock, her tone solemn as she leant her head onto her hands, "You guys are right, this movie does stink."
"Huh?" came the simultaneous reply.
"Truth is... I like both IC and Spectacle Comics. And I've heard the exact same criticisms about this movie from you guys around the school and online. I noticed them myself. It's just that... I was denying it. I mean, I've been waiting to see this movie for years and to have it be this underwhelming after all that build-up is just... sad. I've seen the bullying everyone who hates the movie gets on the Internet. And I thought that... if I could just pretend the movie was perfect and fit in with the others, I could avoid being bullied myself for finding flaws in something the fans have wanted to see for decades."
Her friends could only look on with sympathy as Rainbow squeezed her eyes shut, refusing to let a single tear fall.
"Well who said you had to follow the crowd?"
Unclenching her eyelids slightly, Rainbow looked up at Sunset smiling down at her with empathy. She relaxed as she felt her friend's hand placed softly on her shoulder.
"Don't feel like you have to follow an opinion to avoid harassment." she continued gently, "You're not a machine. You're Rainbow Dash. You're a person with your own life, your own thoughts and your own tastes."
"Exactly, darling. You can think whatever you want and share your thoughts with us, no matter how much they differ from our own." said Rarity, finishing with a small chuckle. "It certainly leads to interesting conversations such as this one."
"It’s like the old saying: entertainment is subjective." Fluttershy added, giving her own understanding smile.
"You can like something, no matter how many flaws it has." Applejack continued, smiling warmly at her rainbow-haired companion, "You can even admit that something objectively isn't good but still get enjoyment out of it. It’s your opinion and yours alone."
"Exactly!" Pinkie's perky tone differed from the other calm, empathetic voices but was just as sweet. "And we'd never judge you or abandon you for it, silly!"
"So if you want to like Nightbat vs Stellarman, go ahead and like it. Or if you don’t want to like it, don’t like it." Twilight finished, reaching over her seat to place a comforting hand on Rainbow's lap. "As long as the decision is yours and you’re not being pressured by anyone into thinking what you don’t want to think." Remaining quiet for a few moments, Rainbow Dash finally let one tear escape and roll down her cheek, stopping at the corner of her upturned lip.
"Thanks, guys."
Those were all they needed to hear. Standing up on their seats below, Rarity, Pinkie and Twilight reached up and came together with the others in a warm embrace. No one let go or lost their smile.
"Uhh, excuse me?"
Their eyes snapping open, everyone turned their attention to a bored scruffy-looking guy with a battered cleaning cart at the bottom of the steps near the screen, which was now playing quiet little jingles.
"As touching as this is, the credits have been over for the past ten minutes and I wanna get this place cleaned up so I can go home." he called up to them irritably, "And I can't do that until you all get outta here."
All looking at each other sheepishly, the seven friends hastily grabbed their belongings and zipped out of the doors, leaving a trail of discarded treat wrappers and popcorn pieces in their wake. Letting out a loud sigh, the cleaner readied his dustpan and brush as the soft jolly music continued emitting from the speakers.
"Jeez, the sappiness I put up with for a paycheck."