brianblackberry

I am still having mixed feelings about the whole "Twilight Sparkle is now an alicorn princess" scenario. I felt the writers did the best they could with the 22 minutes they were given "to make this happen", and who knows at the time they may not even have known of season four and thought this was the end. Still I liked the episode, sure it was rushed, sure it would have better if it was two parts, but given the circumstances, they did what they could and making it a musical, especially with really memorable true friends song, that showed talent. Anyway as I thought about the new Twilight, it had dawned me that I haven't given her a chance yet, and that isn't fair. I sure will Twilight, I sure will.

What if.. The first two episode of season four is about Twilight being corrupted by some nefarious force and fighting that corruption. Why? Because a piece of Sombra was left behind in her when she used his magical techniques to open the hidden passage way. It would be epic and you know it!

This is the official thread for information and chatting about the thirteenth and final episode of season 3 - "magical Mystery Cure"! This is it, the controversial and epic conclusion for season three! This episode should be epic no matter what and hopefully it will lead to even a greater season four! The episode airs at (9:30am Central/10:30am Eastern on February 9th). This thread will not be locked and thus commenting is open as soon as you see this; remember though, there are spoilers in the comments section so read at your own risk if you haven't seen the episode! It'll be epic!

Given how Applejack stubbornly ate the sausage with great difficultly and not a small heaping of ice cream, and more so how she just barely got through it, Carrot Fields was shocked that she wanted more of the intensely spicy veggie kielbasa. He was also polite, regardless how could he refuse such a beautiful mare? [colour=#ff8c00]"We can sure pack ah few fur ye, an' if ye loch, we can brin' some tae th' campin' trip!"[/colour] He laughed at Purple Haze's mentioning of the Brushfire Suicide Pepper version, [colour=#ff8c00]"Weel we willnae brin' any ay those, they're tay hot, e'en fur me!"[/colour] As Carrot passed out slices of the carrot cream pie along with the ice cream for each of his guests, he felt much more relaxed than at any time during the gathering; after all the lunch was a success and he felt Purple Haze and he really created a connection with their Apple neighbors. Showing his renewed comfort he placed another dish of pie and ice cream right in front of Applejack and sat next to her, enjoying the moment. [colour=#ff8c00]"It's settled 'en, we'll gang oan a campin' trip thes weekend. it'll be a reit guid time, i'll be sure tae brin' th' telescope equipment, yoo'll loove seein' th' stars up close, jist th' other day Ah saw a pair ay shootin' stars fly reit ower th' coontryside."[/colour] Carrot Fields sighed contently, it will be fun, and relaxing, and perhaps even provide more time to chat one-on-one with the beautiful orange neighbor, who he just remembered challenged him to a wrestling match in a vat of grapes. Content, and blushing as he ate one of the zap apple sandwiches.

Braeburn worried during the brief awkward silence, well brief perhaps to anypony else, for him though it felt like hours before Willow Wisp responded to his expression of feelings for her. Did he push things too far? Was she going to turn him down? It was a risk to come right out and tell her how he felt, but Braeburn was going to stand by the belief he wasn't the only one standing by the ghostly black tree that wanted something more than just friendship. Braeburn lit up as her initial answer allayed his fears and confirmed his hopes, but she had doubts, doubt stemming from her own worries she wasn't somehow right for him. [colour=#daa520]“Willow, sure w’all may be different inna lot of ways, but ah think w’all have a lot in common too. The only way w’all could know it’ll work is if we give it ah shot. Ah know as an Apple, ah rather take ah chance then not try and regret never knowin’, besides ah think it can work. Won'tcha all try with me” [/colour] Braeburn blushed, but gave a confident wink as well. Willow’s own thoughts were… enthusiastic. She was yelling, but it was obvious to him it was out of nervousness; all he could do at first was smile, she was more nervous than he, but it appeared she was willing to give it a try as well, at least that is what he hoped. There was only one thing to do. Braeburn stepped up to Willow Wisp, who was still sheepishly looking at the ground; he lifted her head with his forehoof as he gave a broad, encouraging smile before he pressed forward and met her lips with his own with a warm kiss. There stood behind them was the black tree, shimmering in a soft blue glow as it displayed first fully grown and ripe apple from it's branches.

Things were looking up. Cheerilee felt relieved that Bumpkin was taking everything that occurred so well - though the farmer pony's apparent interest in her probably had something to do with it - bur before the school teacher could use her authority to reiterate Bumpkin's call for the foals to gather for juice and pie, another disaster happened. This time it was Timid Star, who manage to get himself stuck in the apple mashing vat, ready to be sucked down the juice tube! Cheerilee gasped in horror, [colour=#800080]"Oh Celestia, Timid!"[/colour] Cheerilee's dread only increased as Haywire dove in after him! Cheerilee rushed to the rope Haymaker was pulling, [colour=#800080]"hold on Haywire, Timid Star, hold on tight! We got you!"[/colour] The purple schoolmare grabbed the rope with her teeth and pulled as hard as she could. It took some effort, but the two foals quickly came over the edge. Cheerilee didn't think to let go at that moment and the sudden release of tension caused the purple mare to stumble backwards as she lost her balance, tumbling back into a shelf of earthen jugs of apple juice, causing a couple to tip over, their corks popping out, pouring their contents all over the dazed teacher as she sat dazed on her rump. The now drenched Cheerilee shook her head and looked up in wide eyed concern, [colour=#800080]"Haywire, Timid Star, are you two alright?! Here, let me look at you." [/colour] Cheerilee stood up on all fours and then promptly slipped on the spilled juice and face-planted right into the puddle around her. She just laid there for a few seconds, head down, flank up, before it too slide down and she laid spiraled on the floor, feeling humiliated. The situation embodied how the whole day had gone for Cheerilee. As she looked up, a tear formed in her eye. she wanted to cry, but couldn't, not in front of her class - she had a responsibility to make this into a positive educational experience! Or else it was all wasted!

It should be noted that the regular Draw friends feature on Equestria Daily virtually never has vectors, but when they do it is vectors that are not traced from the show but drawn either from inspiration or completely original poses or characters.

Welcome back!

Braeburn blushed at Willow Wisp’s compliments. He wanted to chuckle out loud about the idea that “a lot of mares liked him”. He has been told that several times, and perhaps it was true to some degree; at least he certainly got along with many lovely mares enough. Of course what she and others likely meant is that he was supposed to be a “a filly’s stallion” but the truth is he wasn’t actually experienced with relationships, sure he has dated on occasion, but most of the time it never went beyond a social date with casual flirting. It was then it suddenly dawned on the goldenrod stallion. Was his supposed reputation that made it difficult for him to succeed in relationships? Because mares somehow thought he is unavailable or unattainable? [colour=#daa520]Whoa now Braeburn, maybe that‘ll be true but don’tcha let that go to yer head. [/colour]He had to come right out and tell her he was interested in perusing a relationship while he still had the opportunity; he had to make the first move. Before he could breech the subject, Willow had moved on to how the tree was doing. The dark flora before them certainly was a unique sight to behold, unearthly yet pretty. In a way the tree symbolize what he liked about the black unicorn mare standing next to him; supposedly mysterious and eerie to most, but once you looked closely and took the time, you see the haunting beauty most ponies miss. Despite all the deep thought Braeburn was having it wasn’t yet translating into words; [colour=#daa520]“dat would be swell, bringin’ yer little cousin along, maybe he’ll luv explorin’ the great outdoors here, and lil’ Apple Pie can have somepony to talk to.” Gee Braeburn, that is nice and all, but c’mon, quite dodgin’![/colour] It was now or never! Braeburn took off his Stetson and turned to face Willow, blushing. [colour=#daa520] “so uhhh… I ah meant it when ah said ah like you, well ah mean of course ah like you, but uhh..ah also “like” you.” Geez Braeburn, why are you repeating yerself? Look how society gregarious you normally are! Now kick out with hind-legs up and just say it! [/colour]Braeburn gave a huge smile,[colour=#daa520] “what ah mean is well, ah was wonderin’ if we could take our friendship to the next level, like ah relationship? Ah would like that, ya know, considerin’ that I think y’all pretty and kind and all.”[/colour] As the goldenrod stallion finished his words, the light, icy blue peddles began to fall around them as the first of the black apples formed on the shimmering tree.

This is the official thread for information and chatting about the twelfth episode of season 3 - "Games Ponies Play"! Is this the rarity episode we all been hoping for? Will it be like the Olympics? Of course we also have the return of Princess Cadance and the Crystal Empire. The episode airs at (9:30am Central/10:30am Eastern on February 9th). This thread will not be locked and thus commenting is open as soon as you see this; remember though, there are spoilers in the comments section so read at your own risk if you haven't seen the episode! She's a champion!

Ditto; I will have to inquire with Starburst if she doesn't reply here first.

Braeburn carefully watched the eerie dark tree, for the moment it just stood there like any other apple tree, the branches swaying slightly in the warm wind of the afternoon. Whatever was causing it to grow; it only appeared to come in sudden bursts that lasted a few seconds. When Willow Wisp mentioned writing to her fellow researches, a humorous thought crossed the goldenrod stallion’s mind, [colour=#daa520]“ah can see it now, first a bunch of botanists and magical researches spending their days camped out at mah farm, then it’ll become a source of curiosity for the fine folks of AAAAAAPPLELOOSA! Then a tourist spot, ‘come see the strange black apple tree of AAAAAAPPLELOOSA! Bring back some tasty tart black apples for the kin!’”[/colour] Braeburn chuckled how farfetched that all was, but stranger things have happened. Braeburn didn't know what to say about Willow's brand of magic - as far as he knew, all unicorn magic was the same - just application was different. Willow Wisp's own brand of magical aura challenged that preconceived notion. Spooky was as good as a word as any, although once a pony was used to it, it didn’t seem as much spooky as eerily alluring. [colour=#daa520]“Well ah hope they can tell y’all what causing it, but ah’m sure yer magic did somethin’. It be special if it was yer particular magic, but either way, yer special already, at least to me.”[/colour] Braeburn blushed and smiled broadly, not noticing the tree’s pale blue blossom’s opening up as she spoke, their eerie glow obscured by the sun as he fumbled in his mind with the words he really wanted to say. [colour=#daa520] “Ah suppose since we have our own special tree, y’all will have to visit th’ farm regularly, ya know, so w’all can check on it... Together. And uhh maybe we can also go explorin’ again if y'all know some other places you wanna check out for yer research; ah would like that.” [/colour] Braeburn looked down and away for a moment before focusing his eyes directly on her’s, smiling with a soft red blush, [colour=#daa520]“cuz’ ah uh, ah I do like you”.[/colour] The small blue blossoms fully bloomed, as if on cue, as the tree shimmered once again; the only part still appeared to be missing were any signs of apples.

Before this thread gets too serious.

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I love the idea that the fact all her friends are far more mortal as a factor in her new life and how she would deal with that reality. Death is real and consequential, it is sad more stuff for kids don't tackle a subject that affect everyone including kids. Seeing characters deal with it is something that really should be considered. What has more impact and then the realization of our morality?

You talking about this thread or in general? If this thread, sorry but things have been pretty darn civil and calm, actually happy with the level of thought here.

Could be two tiers, the immortal alicorns (or very long lived) who represent the very foundational aspects of life and death (such as Celestia and Luna), and the other alicorns like Cadance (and Twilight) who will grow old at a regular rate. That would be interesting in it's own right.

What if it was temporary?

All I see in that is more story potential (although fandom driven). Imagine staying the same youthful self while all your friends grow old and pass away.

Behind her back? She wasn't even part of the show's staff anymore officially in season two. What one intended in the beginning is great but that doesn't make it canon.

You know, I wanted to let the whole "jump the shark" part that you posted earlier go. After all you made your opinion known and we will see how the episode plays out, but with this latest post with the song, now you are just being annoying. What is "Jumping the Shark"? Well it is defined as: 1) The moment in the evolution of a television show when it begins a decline in quality that is beyond recovery. 2) To the point in a television program's history when the program have outlived its freshness beyond the essential qualities that initially defined its success, beyond recovery. So that begs the question, what about Twilight becoming an Alicorn causes the show to start to decline? Was it the story around her becoming an alicorn? Well we don't know the story yet so we cannot say that with any confidence. Is it the fact she is one (temporary or permanently)? If so, how so? We can't really say its a Mary Sue moment (another term people don't really understand but love to toss about in self-righteousness), because she already is the main character, established as special with incredible magical potential with a destiny. Would this move kill the freshness and essential qualities of the show? I don't see it that way. How long can the show keep its freshness and quality without having the characters change in some significant way? Sure they have grown in their character development, but there is only so many routes you can go and still keep the essential characters without some major life altering event. Well now you have that. Think of the potential new stories with Twilight having to handle suddenly being elevated to this level. Celestia and Luna have been like this for millennia, Cadance grew up always being this way, for Twilight it is a sudden radical change. How will she deal with her new responsibilities? Her new powers? How will her friends react and handle this? in what ways is their friendship threatened and how can they all work to overcome this? What will become of them all? Was this all for some greater purpose and will twilight be ready to handle whatever happens? I see nothing but story potential.

What consistency? It was never stated in the series anywhere that Luna and Celestia were the only alicorns. In fact they never really established in the show's mythology what an alicorn really is or where they come from, or what makes one. The fandom just filled in the details themselves in headcanon.

One has to remember that the people to animate and write MLP:FiM are completely different people then Hasbro's marketing department; the latter has always just viewed things in a stereotypical prism of "what little girls want". "Well all little girls want to be princesses right?" Says the Hasbro marketing department, none of which are fans of the show and depend solely on their marketing backgrounds and grounded stereotypes. What Marketing wants is what marketing gets because it is they who are supposed to figure out how to get all the money, so if Marketing wants the main character a princess and Miss America hosting, well the writers and animators have no choice, because guess who the executives listen to first. All the latter can do is work to make the next story possible with the constraints they have; it has always been this way. Thank Celestia there is an entire creative fandom that is unrestricted.