Ponies in Crises

[weesh]

"Existential crisis is the best medicine. Or was that Laughter? I guess Penicillin is pretty good too." - Daisy Owl

Imagine an episode in which a character has an identity crisis. What are some interesting ways that this could be depicted? This is interesting because my biggest moments of person growth occurred where I had my identity shattered.

The show already did a great job with Fluttershy in the "putting your hoof down" scene where she sees herself with Minotaur horns. This was powerful both because it treated the terrible feelings she had with respect, while still showcasing the absurdity of her solution. Furthermore, the decrepit condition of her home suggested that this was not just momentary craziness, but a long slide into depression. Additionally, they showed her friends coming to check in on her, which was a nice way to deal with it.

And it is simple to see Rainbow crashing as well. Right now she is working under the impression that she will join the Wonderbolts some day. There could come a day that she realizes her ability is declining, and that the goal is no longer viable. What would that do to her? Maybe a dereliction of duty, lots of sleeping, a snappy/brash attitude and even more bravado? Which could make it hard for others to even notice that she is struggling. It would be interesting to see what she would put her identity in if she has to abandon her goal. But this would not be easy to depict in 22 minutes.

What else?

[frenzyhero]

Since S3 is going to be much shorter than S1 and S2, maybe they're extending the episodes, so maybe they'll be able to throw in more meaningful episodes. So, that's RD and Shy, what about AJ? Realizing someday Granny and Mac'll pass before her?

This seems pretty interesting, continue.

I tell ya what...

BWAH! SPOILERS! I sell ponies and pony accessories.

[weesh]

AJ's identity is strongly rooted in her family and tradition, so it would most likely be family or farm related. If the Apples lost Sweet Apple Acres, it could be completely crushing to them.

[Bellosh]

As a Twilight Sparkle fan, I'd like to see how she would react if after some sort of big magic-related accident, she no longer felt worthy of studying magic. As magic is more or less Twilight's raison d'être, such an identity crisis would really hit her hard I deem. I would really like to see how her friends and Princess Celestia¹ attempt to convince Twilight otherwise.

¹Celestia could always use more screentime, hehe.

[FermataTheBasse]

Diamond Tiara.

I'm serious. The girl is practically defined by her apparent need to make other ponies lives- especially Applebloom's- harder. It would be interesting to see how she reacted if she had to stop being a bully for whatever reason. What character traits would it reveal? Is there any softer side to our favorite alpha *****? Is she mean through and through? Am I asking too many vaguely piercing questions? Time will tell.

[weesh]

Diamond Tiara.

How would that work? I don't know any real-life bully transformation stories, so I can't think of a compelling way to show that.

[Motion Paradox]

Haven't most of them had one? At least Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash have had one already

[weesh]

For Pinkie Pie, are you talking about Party of One? Because that was short-term crazy, begun and resolved in a matter of hours. It could very well have been something that could have plunged Pinkie into a long term funk, but we will never know at this point.

The same goes for Rainbow. Her breakdown in Sonic Rainboom might have been debilitating long-term, but we can't know what would have happened if she hadn't been successful. Now that I think about it, I'm feeling a little cheated. Rainbow might have been on the verge of a personal breakthrough, but by performing the rainboom, she got to avoid thinking about maybe never making it to the wonderbolts.

[frenzyhero]

Maybe the story (Sonic Rainboom) represents how things might drag you down but friends can bring out the best in you?

[Starfox64x]

Diamond Tiara.

I'm serious. The girl is practically defined by her apparent need to make other ponies lives- especially Applebloom's- harder. It would be interesting to see how she reacted if she had to stop being a bully for whatever reason. What character traits would it reveal? Is there any softer side to our favorite alpha *****? Is she mean through and through? Am I asking too many vaguely piercing questions? Time will tell.

I'd like it more if it was Silver Spoon... DT is a b**** and i dont think anything will change that... but Silver spoon i actually feel bad for... i dont think she's bad... she's just the second cutest girl in class, so DT latched onto her and pulled her into her little clique. Silver is just her backup more or less, and i'd really like to see her break down and try to get away from her to be friends with the others... maybe make another group with Featherweight and Pipsqueek =3

as for more main-ish cast, I'd like to see one of the CMC's breakdown too... Think about it, they've tried EVERYTHING, and NONE of it gave them their cutie mark... imagine that... You have tried everything and none of what you've done is your special talent... it might make you think you're not good at anything... that you're worthless, that nothing you do matters because you're not good at anything you do... especially to a little girl? That would break their little hearts... Of course, someoen would come along and tell them that even if they dont find their marks, they'll have each other and all is well...

and for main six.... actually, i think everyone has had a mental breakfdown dealing with their identity... Rarity and her fashion show, Pinkie in party of one, Dash in Sonic Rainboom, Applejack kinda had a mini breakdown in applebuck season ("ah'm the greatest applebucker and i dont need any help.... wait, MORE APPLES? *faints*) Twilight in lesson zero (She's the number one student and yet she's about to miss an assignment) and the fluttershy in the iron will episode...

Sure,many of them could be conflicted with other portions of their life or personality... but i'm sure after their first meltdown they'd learn.

Frankly i'd love to see Celestia snap... All the pressures of being a leader by herself for a thousand years... perhaps she pushes all that onto Luna for a whole so she can go on a vacation in disguise, but she can't help but do her usual leadership duties while on the streets.

[FermataTheBasse]

I don't mean a character change, necessarily. Rather, I'd just like some rationalization for Diamond's behavior. What if Diamond lost Silver as her yes-mare? What if Filthy Rich suffered a setback for a while? It'll force Diamond to possibly show sides of herself we've never seen before- without losing the overall alpha girl vibe, because the status quo would eventually be restored by episode's end.

[Kendrick]

I think that for us older fans a longer story arc and deeper development would be great, but considering the true target audience I think that just touching on these things is all that they need to do. Yes "Party of One" was a short term problem that was solved in a matter of hours. We can extrapolate and see that as a sign of deeper issues Pinkie may need to deal with at some point. Headcanon has told the fandom that she probably has real problems to work through, but the target demo probably isn't ready for an in depth exploration of depression and disassociation problems.

Besides, there are a lot of shows that deal heavily with all the bad things people are saddled with. I like having a show I can watch where things don't get too deep.