TLDR courtesy of JesterofDestinty: TL:DR - The princesses have lost their unicorn magic, but not their alicorn magic. Magic drained slowly over time. The guards were walking to keep the princesses safe.
Hello! I've noticed in the last couple of days there's been quite a lot of discussion and debate about how various magic-y things were handled in the season 8 finale. Some of you might be confused or disappointed at potential plot holes in how the various end-game events of the episodes were handled, but I thought I would share my own personal thoughts and opinions. Specifically, I want to go over:
*The exact nature of how magic was drained over the course of three days
*How this affected Princess Celestia and Luna, and their ability to control the sun and moon
*How this affected non-unicorns and non-alicorns, with more of an emphasis on pegasus flight
First thing's first, I want to get this out of the way right off of the bat; I know some of you might be agitated or disappointed by a tweet(s) from certain staff members regarding questions about this topic. It's okay to feel those things (I felt the same as well, but after letting it sink for a while I'm not worried about it anymore), but that's not the crux of this discussion, so I will not be focusing on it.
With that addressed, let's look at topic one, Starswirl's three-day warning that essentially lays at the heart of this whole debate. To ensure utmost accuracy, I have pasted the transcript pertaining to this here:
Princess Celestia: Throughout our city, ponies have been reporting tales of their magic failing. Spells going wrong. Potions not working.
Princess Luna: Even raising the moon has become difficult. Are there similar troubles in Ponyville?
Twilight Sparkle: We experienced it first-hoof.
Princess Cadance: It's the same in my kingdom. The Crystal Heart seems safe for now, but I worry if this continues.
[door opens]
"Special Delivery": [panting] Letter for the princess from Star Swirl the Bearded!
Princess Celestia: Ah! It is even more terrible than we feared! Magic is disappearing all across Equestria!
[ponies gasp]
Princess Celestia: Star Swirl believes the power will drain from our land in three days. First, unicorn magic and spells will fail.
Starlight Glimmer: That's what's happening now.
Princess Celestia: On the second day, creatures will lose their magic abilities.
Fluttershy: [gasps] Oh, no!
Princess Celestia: And finally, magical artifacts will stop working. When the sun sets on the third day, the magic in our world will be gone forever!
So, we can summarize the warning as follows:
Day 1) Unicorn magic and spells will fail.
Day 2) Creatures will lose their magic abilities.
Day 3) Magical artifacts will stop working. When the sun sets on the third day, the magic in [Equestria] will [disappear] forever.
One of the primary points of contention is the nature of what each day represents. I feel that the first day doesn't require too much explanation. We see it happen firsthand to Twilight, Starlight, etc and that unicorn magic essentially shuts off. I think the wording here is CRITICAL, because the show is clearing making a special distinction on classes (or rather, each pony tribe) of magic. In 99% of cases, when the show refers to "magic," they tend to refer to unicorn magic. Levitation, shooting off energy beams, gem-finding, stage magic, things like that. Despite this, however, it's obvious that non-unicorn ponies also possess magic. Cutie marks themselves are a type of magic, and we've seen Tirek drain magic out of earth ponies and pegasi during season 4. We've also heard "alicorn magic" referred to by name in the season 4 opener (dark magic animation error not withstanding).
Whew. That's a mouthful. In summary, we can conclude there is unicorn magic, earth pony magic, pegasus magic, and alicorn magic. Why is this important? It goes back to Starswirl's warning about unicorn magic. We don't normally "see" earth ponies or pegasi using magic, but it's generally inferred that earth ponies are naturally adept at growing plants/crops and are physically strong, while pegasus magic enables them to fly (based on them crashing to the ground after Tirek drains them in S4), walk on clouds (Twilight needing to cast a spell to replicate this in S1), and manipulate weather. While manipulating the weather is impressive, it's not quite as flashy as firing off a DBZ-blast or turning someone into a cactus.
Unicorn magic was the biggest threat that Cozy Glow was able to steal right away. My theory is that it would have been unlikely for Cozy Glow's magic vortex to go straight for alicorn magic due to its overall power, so it went for the next best thing; one third of Equestria's population. By sapping unicorns of magic, I assume this will make the vortex not only stronger, but also eliminate a potential threat against Cozy Glow's plan. It's two-fold.
Moving on to day two, I don't have quite as much to write here as the setup and background for day one, but I'm of the opinion that "creature" refers to everything that isn't a pony. Zecora would lose the ability to make potions, changelings would be unable to transform or maintain any currently shapeshifted state, and random monsters or other critters that were out and about in Equestria would see their abilities fail. I feel this is why we see a cutaway to Fluttershy specifically gasping in horror; Any magic her animal friends may have would suddenly fail. I do not belive that day two includes pegasi and earth ponies simply because we see too many pegasi flying about, and that Fluttershy's reaction would be perfect for creatures that are not ponies.
Now for day three, which is broken up into two parts. Day three itself, and day three's sunset. There's a few ways we can interpret this. At face value, it seems to imply that magical artifacts would cease working, and then by sunset, everything ELSE would finally succumb. This seems to be the case as Chancellor Neighsay's teleporation amulet begins to fail, but still has enough juice in it for a trip to Canterlot to warn the Princesses. The only thing that could be a minor point of contradiction by taking the warning completely as-is is Cozy Glow's artifacts seemingly did not fail at this time; They were still being used to power the vortex. I feel that the vortex eventually hit a point of being able to sustain itself while also keeping the artifacts intact, until it was such time to suck those up as well right at the very end. Despite these observations, partial or cascading failures do not have to be completely ruled out. Neighsay's amulet DID allow him to teleport once before finally failing, which implies it takes time to drain magic, or even that the timing for magic draining could be inconsistent.
Okay, so, where am I going with this? At this point, I think we can move on to the other elephant in the room, the two alicorns. Let's go back to this quote from Princess Luna: Princess Luna: Even raising the moon has become difficult. Are there similar troubles in Ponyville?
What does this mean? Does it mean Celestia and Luna are having their powers drained? Well, yes and no. Rewinding time back to day one, I do believe that at this point, Celestia and Luna have lost most or all of their UNICORN magic, but not their alicorn magic. Celestia and Luna's ability to raise the sun and moon is handled via alicorn magic, and is related to their special talents; It is independent of normal unicorn magic and in a league all of its own.
Going back to the IRL book titled The Journal of the Two Sisters (and parts of the episode Horse Play), it explains how team(s) of unicorns raised the sun and moon, but it would eventually utterly drain them of power. However, when the Sisters attempt this feat, they do it with ease, and it also comes with the bonus of rejuvenating their magic each time they do so. It's a net gain for them.
The biggest criticism I see of the events unfolding in School Raze I and II is how the Sisters were able to keep the day/night cycle going in regards to the three day limit. I think the answer is simple; They simply haven't lost this ability yet. This goes back to my theory earlier about how unicorn magic was the first to fail; It was easier and in higher quantity to suck away than the alicorns. It's true Luna's comment might contradict this, since my theory holds that their sun/moon magic should be independent of their unicorn magic, but honestly, I think if you had what was essentially a quarter of your magic suddenly sucked out of you, you'd probably be off-balance a tad too.
I think people are getting too hung-up on a literal interpreation of "three days" and "the third day's sunset." Time is going to pass regardless of the day/night cycle, so even if the Sisters lost the ability to move the sun/moon (or just stopped for whatever reason), by the time we would have reached 7:30 PM on day three, it would have been game over, even if the sun was at high noon. So regardless of this, I feel that by the sunset of the third day, the two sisters would have been screwed. Even with their revjunation keeping them going on maintaining the day/night cycle, they would have lost this ability and their alicorn magic.
(Low key, this theory on the separation of alicorn magic and unicorn magic is how I'm able to rationalize Twilight channeling Tirek, etc's magic in Tartarus, but that's a tangent)
I think that should cover the Sisters, so let's move on to my next point. There's a scene near the end with the Sisters, Neighsay, and the entirety of the royal guard walking to Ponyville from Canterlot. I've seen some people complain about the exact timing of events, and if they could fly or not; Once the magic is restored, everyone suddenly takes flight (with Neighsay diving into a portal) in a grand "LET'S GO KICK ASS" shot.
But why? Had the royal guard and Sisters lost the magic of pegasus flight? If so, why are Rainbow Dash and Cozy Glow still fluttering about? Ultimately, based on the magic flowing back across Equestria, we did not see any magic return to the royal guard or other pegasi, so it's likely they still maintained the power of flight. So, why not just fly en-masse to Ponyville either way and stick the Princesses+Neighsay in the back of a cart? I think without unicorn magic, this would have left them too vulnerable to a potential multi-pronged attack.
Wait, what?
Any time a sudden and surprise attack is underway, it is foolish to assume that "the worst is over," unless you've somehow uncovered credible information. The possibility of a multi-pronged attack once the Princesses were vulnerable was indeed a very real possibility, hence the reason they were travelling with a huge group of guards. They could have potentially sent scouts ahead in advance, and left some guards behind to defend Canterlot, but I feel the reason why we see such a large group of guards walking is to keep the Princesses safe, and to also aid in any sort of potential battle in Ponyville. Even though the Princesses knew it was ultimately Tirek and Cozy Glow responsible, they don't know if it was ONLY them. No unicorn magic would have made the mid-air, carriage-bound Princesses pretty big targets.
So yeah! This really got away from me, but I just wanted to share my thoughts and opinions. I love this show, I love its lore, I love its magic, and I love just about everything about it. I know there are some inconsistencies that have popped up over the years with magic, the Sisters, etcetc, but I don't see such things as deteriments or plot holes; I see them as an exercise in creativity. I see them as something to dive into and get me thinking, which lets me add even MORE to this amazing universe.
Finally, it's easy to blame the writers or other staff for "being lazy" or "not caring" or "it's just a kid's show," but for me personally, I get so invested in the show and universe that those things don't really apply to me too frequently. Sure, sometimes things are so fucked up that you have to sit back and say "Yeah, they really screwed the pooch on this one," but I prefer to analyze and digest content from an "in-universe" perspective. I don't think "Why did they write her lines like this," I think "Why did she say this?" So that's why I don't want to blame these inconsistencies on meta factors like writing decisions, I want to instead focus on how I can use this to dive even deeper.
Or maybe I'm full of shit because I just spent 45 minutes typing out about 2000 words analyzing how horse magic works. I fully expect holes to be poked in this but I had a lot of fun thinking about this at work and fun typing it out, so I hope you at least have fun reading it!
It's boring to have all the answers laid out right away.
EDIT: A sudden thought occurred: Potentially Celestia and Luna used a last-ditch spell on the sun and moon to keep them going on their track for an indeterminate amount of time without their interference. This way the sun/moon would keep going even if they lost all of their magic at the beginning, and no distinction between alicorn and unicorn magic is made. Such a spell doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility, as they potentially would have had time to prepare. Any other time they've been hindered by villains it them being caught flat-footed.
EDIT 2: I may not be able to reply to comments tonight since my stomach hurts a tad after dinner, but I will do my best. I absolutely want to hear others' thoughts!
So, because it's No-Pics Thursday (October 18th, 2018) today, you know what that means...
It's time for the Weekly Fanfic Recommendation LINK-SWAP Game thread to continue!
Anyways, THE RULES (read 'em carefully):
Post a link to a fanfiction you like (can be your own as well - it's okay to self-promote), with or without a short blurb.
Important: Reply to someone else's post with a link to a fanfiction you think they might like, based on their choices.
Put each of your choices in a separate post if you want to make sure to get a recommendation based on each one. You may reply to someone else's reply, either to you or to someone else. Please make long discussion threads, they introduce a healthy bit of exploration and can help us find new interests! And that's it!
PLEASE COMPLETE BOTH STEPS 1 and 2. Don't just show up and ask for recommendations if you're not willing to provide any. I'll start the first few threads myself, and reply with a gentle reminder if you forget.
IMPORTANT NOTE. Thanks to /u/BookHorseBot (many thanks to their creator, /u/BitzLeon), you can now use the aforementioned bot to easily post the name, description, views, rating, tags, and a bunch of other information about a fic hosted on Fimfiction.net. All you need to do is include "{NAME OF STORY}" in your comment (without quotes), and the bot will look up the story and respond to your comment with the info. It makes sharing stories really convenient. You can even lookup multiple stories at once.
Ready? Set? LET"S GO! Also, feel free to self-promote in here!
I had the theory that she was Chrysalis (most of us thought that), until, of course, the finale came around, and it turned out to be her own villian!
However, I'm still convinced she's Chrysalis. Why? Well, it may sound convoluted, but think about it.
She was very weary of not being uncovered all the way to the end, only showing her true intentions to Starlight (and, well, the tree). But then, once she was uncovered, she went all out screaming, and in general being very obvious, almost like she wanted to be captured.
Chrysalis has been experimenting with the tree's capabilities. She now knows it can differentiate between true people and clones. (And, if she is, indeed, CG, she also knows that it is sentinent, and extremely powerful, but doesn't intervene until "friendship" is around)
We know that the door to Tartarus can be opened in some way, or that there is another exit. (Back in S4, when Tirek escaped, or even before, when Cancerberus escaped).
Alternatively, if that "other way" was fixed, we know that Chrysalis can easily get out of a cage, and, when the mystical beasts in Tartarus get freed (Flutershy's courtesy) she can probably get out too.
Also, I can't imagine a background for a pony like Cozy. I'd understand a controlling little foal (ponies tend to be impressive at what they do), but a foal that can move a mob like that? WITHOUT using her cuteness as her main tactic? And that also knows how to contact Tirek? Not to say that she can use (what I asume is) very advanced magic, without even being a unicorn.
Pony villans usually get redeemed. Why is Cozy Glow different? Is what she did worse than Starlight? Her using her own name to contact Tirek was probably on purpose (she planned that whole thing, after all. She was the one to suggest to go to Tirek). Why would she expose herself thar way on purpose? She WANTED to be sent to Tartarus.
In conclusion, Cozy Glow is Chrysalis. She now has access to whatever she's looking for in Tartarus (probably more knowledge about draining magic). She has a plan to get out, and probably won't be bothered in at least some months (until Fluttershy can convince the princesses to free the monsters).
I just realized that I live in an area close to Copenhagen called "Stengården" which translate to Rock Farm
I live where Pinkie Pie grew up.
I'm taking a riding class at my university, all is going well so far, I just can't seem to figure out how to keep from bouncing while in a trot. Can anyone give me a few helpful tips? (Western saddle if that makes a difference).
I just finally watched the season final and noticed how almost half of pegasus royal guards in the episode were female. Was there any appearance of female guards ever at all in the other episodes? There were non as I remember and it was pretty interesting for me how the studio decided to put them this time.
So yeah I'm just now catching up on S8, was way too busy to watch anything for a while.
After binging the last 20ish episodes I watched this one and apart from it being just one of my favorites, it has something pretty special to me.
Back in 8th grade I got into a fight with another kid. He insulted my Grandmother and I was having non of it, so I hit him pretty hard. It turned out pretty bad as the school sent me home for 2 weeks and the police got involved (and nothing came of it). I really did not enjoy the experience so I decided that getting angry was pretty pointless, since it's just going to cause pain to someone. So 14 year old me decided to kind of block out the emotion of anger.
It started out just fine, I felt pretty good and hey, I wasn't getting angry because that's a useless and pointless emotion. Over the following years, a pretty major side-effect of this started to appear - I started to lose all of my emotions. It got so bad that I really felt nothing by the time I was at 12 grade. I just guessed life was uneventful and that that's what happens when you grow up.
I discovered ponies in 10th-ish grade, and it did make me feel a little happy inside. I truly believe this show has had a profound effect of me, it probably fixed my brain. There have been several episodes that have really hit me close to home, and even though I was much older than the target demographic, I still had things to learn. Not friendship lessons, obviously, but lessons about myself. About who I am, who I want to be and how that should be.
The first episode to really hit me was Part of One, since at the time I was feeling really lonely and left out, and it gave me a way to deal with it. And now this one hit me like a truck. It ended up going in a slightly different direction at the end, for obvious reasons, but the entire point still stands.
After graduating I ended up realizing what my decision in 8th grade was doing to me and I decided to try and get my emotions back. I didn't go to a psychologist, I decided that this is a matter I need to settle with my emotions myself, and that the best and most honest solution would come from me.
A few years later today I've regained most of my emotions (still having trouble with joy), and I've been able to handle anger in a way that I do still feel it, but it goes into productive outcomes.
So yeah,
'Cause rainbows won't light up the sky
Unless you let it rain
And candles just won't glow until they're burned
No, you can't give up your laughter
'Cause you're scared of a little pain
It's a lesson that my village never learned
Thanks MLP for once again making me cry at 1 am.
This is a weekly event coinciding (mostly) with NPT; off-topic and meta threads will be staggered so this week's off-topic thread is being submitted now and the meta thread was posted 12 hours ago. Next NPT will be the opposite! We do not ask that all off-topic discussion be kept to this submission; it is merely here as a courtesy and you are free to continue off-topic discussion in the comments of other submissions (off-topic submissions, however, are still a no-no). What is your pet peeve when you are on vacation? Have fun!
Hey folks 👋🏻 would you say there is a period with a now horse for getting to know each other? I'm learning (2 lessons in, yay me!) but my wife is fairly accomplished. Looking for a horse and she has found some are harder to "get going". I think she is worried it's her ability and I'm thinking it could just be he horse and what he/she is used to etc
Interested to know what people think?
One day they are fine with me liking the show. The next time they are teasing me or / and questioning my sexual orientation. I got nothing against gay people, but I am not gay. They are embarrassed if I wear or use any MLP stuff when outside.
Any help would be nice. Thank you.
I'm making an "ad" for myself to share on Facebook to advertise lessons for Obstacle Challenges.
My question for y'all is: Would you want to see a list of accomplishments in the ad showing what I have achieved? I'm debating because I feel it's a bit pretentious, but it also shows that I know what I'm doing.
The list is rather long, 15 awards/titles. I'm only including national finals results and year end awards. I've listed out things from 2015 till now as that's when I seriously started showing.
I want to let people know that they are in capable hands but not come off as bragging/pretentious.
I'm asking because I've made 2 dozen custom emotes that I'd be more than willing to give to this sub reddit (With a 3rd dozen planned.)
Cavalry charges are always frequently shown as terrifying in general history books, movies, TV, video games, and fantasy novels. Even accurate historical accounts mentions the ground having an earthquake and things moving in slow motion as you stand with your legs shaking but stuck still on the ground due to fear.
However I borrowed a book from the library today on Medieval Warfare, and on the Battle of Hasting it described the Norman Knights charges against the Anglo-Saxon shieldwall as something so terrifying that the Norman knights "displayed a most legendary courage very rarely seen in the early Medieval battlefield" and mentions several times how the Norman knights almost routed.
In addition the book has some battles during the fall of the Roman Empire and the years following it where the last of the Roman Equites and Patricians fought against impossible odds that would have "made brave men flee" as they made desperate attempts to fend off Germanic tribes using their cavalry or to hold onto far away territory. It mentions in Britannia how typical Roman cavalry would hesitate to charge even disorganized Celtic warbands wandering the countryside especially in forests and swamps and it took the Equites, the most elite of the Roman Army's horsemen and often coming from Rome's aristocracy, to be able to hunt down these disorganized local bandits.
And of course the book praises the Germanic horse warriors in its Rome sections especially after the final Sack of Rome where it was the horsewarriors of the Barbarians who would be the "hammer" of the Catholic Church as it was bringing stability into Europe during the Dark Ages. Especially the Frankish heavy cavalry who would become the basis of the Medieval Knight and the book mentions the Catholic Church's honoring the Frankish horse warriors as the "bravest" of the Church's military and who often took the most difficult and scariest tasks of guarding the Church's laymen throughout Europe.
I am curious. Nowadays cavalry men especially heavily armored and armed ones such as knights and samurai are often described as being the most terrifying force on the battlefield and since they were so armoured and trained, they had the least chance of dying in war. Modern internet discussion make it sound like being a knight was a favorable position where you're most likely to come back home alive and camera portrayal of knights in movies and TV from a first person perspective show cavalry charges feeling high and mighty especially since the enemies look smaller as the cameramen follows the path of the knights charging and often shows infantry getting slaughtered early on and than retreating within 30 minutes. Modern cavalry charges are portrayed as being so invincible you don't even need to know how to fight but only know how to ride a horse and you can just follow along because victory practically guaranteed.
I am wondering if it was scary at all to attack even disorganized rabble random robbers on a group of horse? I watched Dragonheart today and the movie opens up with knights trying to put down poorly armed peasants. Despite the knights killing a lot of peasants while on horse, they suffered pretty significant casualties especially after the peasants rallied up from the initial charge and surrounded the 50 knights. Some of the knights actually fled the battle when the peasants counterattacked and surrounded them in the process and they managed to surround the king and jump him by themselves. While the knights ultimately won the battle, the king was killed in the process in a brutal manner as peasants were stabbing him with pitchforks on the ground. In addition they even managed to surround the Prince (who was watching the battle from a distance), and the Prince got wounded in an accident. The whole battle was pretty terrifying even though the knights ultimately won esp when the peasants were swarming the king.
In addition in Total War its common even against disorganized militia caught in an ambush (like say sending scouts hidden in the wounds to attack them from their unprotected flanks) for cavalry men to lose morale especially after a prolonged fight to flee (in particular if the cavalry men aren't elites like Templars).
So this makes me curious. Despite how much of Hollywood and public education school books describe how easy the position of cavalry charges are and how its significant militia stood up to them, is actually charging a group of armed men something that takes guts? Even if they are disorganized individualist fighters like barbarian celts in Britain or angry peasants in a riot? I mean seeing the Dragonheart scene and Total War confirms how terrifying Hastings must have been for knights!
I got the book "The Rider's Fitness Program" a few months back, but haven't really been using it. I was thinking to start once I'm done with Triathlon training - probably Oct. 28th.
If I made a weekly post with the exercises from the book, does anyone want to be accountability partners with me? I think the whole program is 6 - 8 weeks.
We can also talk yoga/ flexibility, PT needs, nutrition, and commiserate! Especially with winter coming on for us in the Northern hemisphere, I think it will be good to work on our skills out of the saddle too!
There are always things about the show I want to talk about, but I'd rather not always dedicate an entire full blown thread to it or it's never the right time to mention because no one would care. Maybe it's a thought that could be answered quickly enough to end discussion or something insignificant and stupid brewing in the back of your head for awhile! Anything you want to throw out to r/mylittlepony and say your piece!
Is there anything you've wanted to mention lately but never got around to it? Anything you want to speak up about for a bit? Any pony topic at all?
Good news everyone! The prototype thread went over so well that I decided to make this a weekly, or biweekly, thing so with that said.
So I've been inspired these past few weeks to try out something new. Just as we have a dedicated Fanfiction Thread, Recommendation thread, Miscellaneous Thread, and other such threads I figured that something was missing and decided to see how popular this idea is.
So we have seen a LOT of fanart tossed around on this thread over the past near decade and though some have been lost to the sands of times others seem to stick in our minds and memories.
So With that said are there any pieces of Fanart that you personally love and appreciate? Why is that?Is it how the colors of the piece meld together to make the image so beautiful? Feel free to link the fanart you are discussing about in your comments below so as to give the example of what you are talking about.
Hi there! It's Thursday again and that means another chance to talk about what's been happening around here and how you feel about it!
Same as every other time, feel free to discuss whatever it is you'd like regarding our little subreddit good or bad. If you're unhappy we'll try our best to fix whatever problem you're having!
If you want to talk about the MLP fandom in general, that's fine too!
But some people may not want to talk about comics or anything else that hasn't happened yet, so you should be nice and hide those conversations from those people by using the spoiler tag.
If you don't know how it's as easy as making an emote:
[It has ponies!](/spoiler)
Becomes: It has ponies!
And if you're not wanting to discuss the subreddit or community specifically you can also check out the weekly off-topic thread that will be up at noon Pacific time!!!!
