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[SigmasonicX]

Twilight claimed that breaking up any friendship could have resulted in doom for Equestria, and that what was important was the general level of friendship. Going from that, we get to the more metaphysical idea that there is some guiding force making sure that Equestria has exactly enough friendship magic to solve whatever problems come up. Thus, maybe with the main six not together, there was exactly enough magic to solve all but one threat, and with minor nudging, exactly which threat couldn't be stopped changed.

In the first alternate timeline, some group of friends was able to stop Nightmare Moon (but not cure her?), Discord, and Chrysalis, but Sombra was too much for the amount of friendship available in Equestria. In the Nightmare Moon timeline, despite the eternal night, some groups of friends were able to stop Discord and the others, but failed to overthrow Nightmare Moon.

So who knows, maybe if Starlight went back in time to stop Lyra and Bon Bon from meeting, the main six wouldn't have been able to beat Tirek, since their Rainbow Power just wouldn't have been strong enough.

 

[Orcastar]

If the spell allowed Starlight to go to any point in time anywhere in Equestria, why didn't she just go back to prevent her friend from getting his cutie mark?

 

[SigmasonicX]

If the spell allowed Starlight to go to any point in time anywhere in Equestria, why didn't she just go back to prevent her friend from getting his cutie mark?

That wouldn't have helped the her of the present, since both her and Twilight were unaffected by the time traveling. Plus, she would have had to stop him from getting his cutie mark his entire life, and the role of cutie marks in society would mean he'd be singled out for being a blank flank anyway.

 

[Fat4all]

I feel like this season was almost as on-point driving it's background narrative as season 4 was.

Fucking love it.

 

[Lupin the Third]

Maybe the super-villains all took each other down and we only saw various last-one-standing scenarios. Or a mix of that and Celestial interferences and failures.

 

[wildthing2022000]

Maybe the super-villains all took each other down and we only saw various last-one-standing scenarios. Or a mix of that and Celestial interferences and failures.

That's my thought. The last one was totally Trixie's though, she destroyed the world with her magic act that went too far.

 

[SigmasonicX]

^ Oh right, Trixie possessing the Alicorn Amulet is one big threat that wasn't otherwise shown.

One last fanwork for the previous episode. Coloratura forgets that she invited Cheese Sandwich for a song.

And comics made before this episode. EDIT: Experimenting with putting them side by side, tell me if this looks fine.
Always There
Muffed Up

 

[PaulloDEC]

I thought that was great. Yes, the time-travel made almost no sense. No, it was never, ever going to.

I guess I'm the only person who thought the lead-up to Starlight stepping down felt really natural and well-paced? The whole point was that she initially didn't know she was destroying the future by messing with the past; as far as she knew, all she was messing with was the Mane 6. Even seeing the burnt-out timeline that Twilight dragged her to almost wasn't enough to convince her.

Reasoning with her was always going to be the solution. She isn't Tirek, or Sombra or Chrysalis. She doesn't want to rule or burn Equestria; she's just sad, and lonely, and hurt. Compassion was always, always going to be the solution. And it worked.

Starlight's backstory may seem underwhelming if the expectation was for something grand and dramatic, but if this show has ever had a single overriding message, it's that friendship is important almost beyond compare. Starlight had it, and then it was taken away from her. Being burnt like that at such a young age doesn't necessarily leave a person unchanged. Starlight let it take over every aspect of her life, and a pointless crusade against Twilight (where she openly admitted that she didn't mind if it became a perpetual struggle for control) was the breaking point.

And we got to see loads of weird and brilliant alternate timelines. I still can't believe they actually did "war comes to Equestria".

Twilight claimed that breaking up any friendship could have resulted in doom for Equestria, and that what was important was the general level of friendship. Going from that, we get to the more metaphysical idea that there is some guiding force making sure that Equestria has exactly enough friendship magic to solve whatever problems come up. Thus, maybe with the main six not together, there was exactly enough magic to solve all but one threat, and with minor nudging, exactly which threat couldn't be stopped changed.

In the first alternate timeline, some group of friends was able to stop Nightmare Moon (but not cure her?), Discord, and Chrysalis, but Sombra was too much for the amount of friendship available in Equestria. In the Nightmare Moon timeline, despite the eternal night, some groups of friends were able to stop Discord and the others, but failed to overthrow Nightmare Moon.

So who knows, maybe if Starlight went back in time to stop Lyra and Bon Bon from meeting, the main six wouldn't have been able to beat Tirek, since their Rainbow Power just wouldn't have been strong enough.

This is a nice line of thought. There's power for good in Equestria, but for things to stay truly harmonious, the Elements of Harmony are needed. Not the physical elements mind you, but the living embodiments of them. Perhaps in the future that role will pass to other characters, but in the present of FiM, it's the Mane 6.

 

[DrForester]

I prefer the idea that the elements will answer to anyone who embodies what they stand for. Hence why Celestia was able to harness Luna's elements, and why Alt-Sombra in the comics was as well.

 

[PaulloDEC]

I prefer the idea that the elements will answer to anyone who embodies what they stand for. Hence why Celestia was able to harness Luna's elements, and why Alt-Sombra in the comics was as well.

I think it's possible that others can wield the elements (certainly characters as powerful as Celestia and Luna can), but the show as a whole tends to put a lot of emphasis on "destiny". While it may be true that other characters might have "harmonic potential" (I guess?), it seems like the Mane 6 are the intended champions for this point in time.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Plus, it is possible that there were others wielding the Elements of Harmony in the other timelines, but Twilight's speech suggests that the simple absence of their friendship made it so that there was less friendship magic in Equestria.

It occurs to me that Starlight Glimmer is actually pretty similar to Discord. Both are powerful characters who the heroes decide are too dangerous not to make friends with, and Starlight could be said to be using her great power for petty reasons like Discord. I'd be interested in seeing how those two interact, though I expect that's something that will have to be left to the comics. I could see a story where Discord sees the similarities and decides to test Starlight to see if she'd betray them like he did, though that would be another "Discord is a jerk" story.

It also occurs to me that this is the first time in this series that the world-destroying villain actually was beaten just by talking to them, as opposed to blasting them with rainbows. I did think it was clever how they set this up. By virtue of time travel and the short amount of time allowed in the past, Twilight couldn't gather her friends. It seems like Twilight could have defeated Starlight in a straight fight, but she not only had to beat her but do so without interfering with Dash's race, which was beyond her ability. Plus, they did hint that Starlight could be reformed with how one of her methods to alter the past was to convince the bullies to be nice to Fluttershy.

 

[DrForester]

One thing I didn't like was how everyone is suddenly friends with her. Discord has had to earn that friendship over two seasons. This episode everyone is just instantly cool with her and hanging out.


Also...

Eat Canon, Time Turner/Derpy fans!

 

[woopWOOP]

Well, that was... kind of dark. Especially the first timeline with the war effort. Buncha people must be happy that My Little Pony wars are kind of canon now tho.

Starlight Glimmer was an asshole through and through. I loved it, best villain the show had yet. Kind of sad she turned good at the end, would like more crazy antics like that, but hey it's MLP whatcha expect. Either way, pretty great episode, had me smiling plenty of times.

Time to wait for season 6 now I guess, whenever that airs. And with it the Snips & Snails focused episode (I was surprised they remembered to cram them in the group shot at the end).

 

[PaulloDEC]

Plus, it is possible that there were others wielding the Elements of Harmony in the other timelines, but Twilight's speech suggests that the simple absence of their friendship made it so that there was less friendship magic in Equestria.

It occurs to me that Starlight Glimmer is actually pretty similar to Discord. Both are powerful characters who the heroes decide are too dangerous not to make friends with, and Starlight could be said to be using her great power for petty reasons like Discord. I'd be interested in seeing how those two interact, though I expect that's something that will have to be left to the comics. I could see a story where Discord sees the similarities and decides to test Starlight to see if she'd betray them like he did, though that would be another "Discord is a jerk" story.

It also occurs to me that this is the first time in this series that the world-destroying villain actually was beaten just by talking to them, as opposed to blasting them with rainbows. I did think it was clever how they set this up. By virtue of time travel and the short amount of time allowed in the past, Twilight couldn't gather her friends. It seems like Twilight could have defeated Starlight in a straight fight, but she not only had to beat her but do so without interfering with Dash's race, which was beyond her ability. Plus, they did hint that Starlight could be reformed with how one of her methods to alter the past was to convince the bullies to be nice to Fluttershy.

The Discord parallel is definitely a big one, and if they're really adding Starlight into the main cast for S6 I'd be very surprised if we didn't see her interacting with Discord at some point.

And re: Starlight's defeat, that's one of my favourite things about this story. I expanded on it a bit in my earlier post, but I love the way she's treated like a person, rather than a regular "villain" here.

One thing I didn't like was how everyone is suddenly friends with her. Discord has had to earn that friendship over two seasons. This episode everyone is just instantly cool with her and hanging out.

Yeah, they did kinda gloss over that bit. I guess the Mane 6 are getting used to that schtick now.

"Okay gang, Starlight is super powerful, so we need to make her feel accepted so she doesn't go nuts and blast us all. Sound good? Big smiles everypony!"

 

[SigmasonicX]

One thing I didn't like was how everyone is suddenly friends with her. Discord has had to earn that friendship over two seasons. This episode everyone is just instantly cool with her and hanging out.

I didn't find anything odd about that. Unlike Discord, Starlight doesn't innately act like she's up to something even when reformed, and Twilight was the one who got her to reform, so she's more convinced that it would stick than when Fluttershy reformed Discord. Everyone else in town probably doesn't even know who Starlight is, so she's just a new friend.

Anyway, fan art.
Butterfly Effect - I actually didn't notice this during the episode
Rainbow Squad - I expect a lot of fanart of these versions of the characters in particular
What Might Have Been, What May Yet Be

 

[Strider_Blaze]

I overall enjoyed the season 5 finale. But the resolution is something of a criticism for me. Don't get me wrong, I was thinking "I'm pretty sure Starlight is going to be redeemed just like that a la Sunset Shimmer;" though granted at least half the villains have been redeemed by this point, maybe more. And I take her reaction to causing the future to be horse-apples as pretty genuine.

But I felt the reasoning behind Starlight's villainy was, for lack of a better term, pretty weak. Her friend leaving Starlight upon getting his Cutie Mark, resulting in her dislike towards everyone with unique talents in fear of losing friends. That in itself can be understood, but it begs the question why she never tried to get into contact with him, to assure that they are still friends. Though granted, Sunburst left Starlight just like that; no "I'll be sure to write back to you," or "We will still be friends, no matter how far apart we are." Not even a "Goodbye." Though considering how short Starlight's flashback sequence was w/o actually showing Sunburst's departure, I could be taking that out of context.

And, as mentioned here, each villain being prominent to one bad future each and questionably having a barren wasteland as one of the possible bad futures. Though that's likely the writers playing with the "butterfly of doom" trope and they did a good job with that; the trope is more or less is lampshaded by Zecora.

Other than that , again it was an enjoyable season finale for me, having a lot of conflict that could combat with season 4's finale. Plus it being one of the show's darkest moments yet.

Gonna be a long wait before season 6 comes, but hopefully it will be worth it.

 

[DeadPhoenix]

Time travel is time travel, I'm sure you could come up with a million excuses why one time line ended up one way instead of another giving who little we saw of each one.

Starlight's redemption however... I felt like something was missing. I would have glady left the song out or cut it short for another scene. Something like meeting adult Sunburst maybe? idk, thats pretty much my biggest complaint for this episode, otherwise I enjoyed it.

 

[ZarKryn7]

What a finale. Loved it. I'll agree. Starlight's redemption was kinda a bit rushed out of the way just like how DT was. But at the end of the day, I guess if we were to see that paced out, I don't think many of us wouldn't care.

Anywho. I'm excited to see what season 6 holds!

 

[DrForester]

Starlight's redemption however... I felt like something was missing. I would have glady left the song out or cut it short for another scene. Something like meeting adult Sunburst maybe? idk, thats pretty much my biggest complaint for this episode, otherwise I enjoyed it.

She goes on a rampage because her friend moved away and she's apparently incapable of writing a letter. Her backstory is having something happen to her that happens to almost anyone. There was no tragedy for it, and nothing to really try to justify her actions.

Then after everything she's done, she's instantly forgiven by everyone, She doesn't have to earn her redemption in any way, it's just given to her on a silver platter.

 

[PaulloDEC]

She goes on a rampage because her friend moved away and she's apparently incapable of writing a letter.

Well, no. She went on a rampage because Twilight and her friends destroyed the dream she'd had spent a large part of her life building.

Her backstory is having something happen to her that happens to almost anyone. There was no tragedy for it, and nothing to really try to justify her actions.

This is different for every person. Some people deal with loss well. Other people deal with it really badly. We already know Starlight is highly-strung and has some anger issues, which is probably why she only had one friend to begin with. She took it badly and never moved past it. None of it struck me as particularly implausible.

Then after everything she's done, she's instantly forgiven by everyone, She doesn't have to earn her redemption in any way, it's just given to her on a silver platter.

What good would it do not to forgive her?

 

[DeadPhoenix]

She goes on a rampage because her friend moved away and she's apparently incapable of writing a letter. Her backstory is having something happen to her that happens to almost anyone. There was no tragedy for it, and nothing to really try to justify her actions.

Then after everything she's done, she's instantly forgiven by everyone, She doesn't have to earn her redemption in any way, it's just given to her on a silver platter.

Yeah a couple pieces of backstory felt left out as well, but i think showing how it started was enough. But yeah, the while all is forgiven thing happened a little to fast, I can accept it from the mane 6, but the people from that town probably should have required a bit more effort to convince. Everypony else though, as someone mentioned before, didn't even know who she was. Just one or two more scenes would have probably gone a long way for this episode(which i wouldn't be surprised they had planned but had to cut for X reason).

 

[SigmasonicX]

I thought Starlight's motivation was fine in the sense that Sunburst leaving showed her that there was something wrong with how friends can be split up because they are good at different things. This led to her being hesitant to make any other friends, and also to get back into contact with Sunburst. There is a huge gap in her backstory as to how she fell upon the equality spell and how she decided to start her town experiment, though. As for her being forgiven, I didn't anything odd with that. If you want to see her show more regret and such, we'll probably get that in later episodes, like with Discord and Luna.

Anyway, the most important gif of the season.

And just the clapping

Other important gifs

Twilight, stahp, she's like ten years younger than you.

And linking the Industry timeline

 

[DrForester]

What good would it do not to forgive her?

There's forgiving her, and then there's just immediately welcoming her into the fold. It doesn't feel earned. She basically went through in 30 seconds what Discord did in 2 seasons.

 

[PaulloDEC]

There's forgiving her, and then there's just immediately welcoming her into the fold. It doesn't feel earned. She basically went through in 30 seconds what Discord did in 2 seasons.

It's true, but like, what else do they do in Equestria? I guess maybe they could've sent her home to her parents for a bit.

 

[ZealousD]

It was also a bit annoying seeing Twilight be slow to catch onto what's happening.

Things like this are a reminder that you're still watching a kid's show. The writers' can't assume everybody has been on a time travel rodeo before.

There's forgiving her, and then there's just immediately welcoming her into the fold. It doesn't feel earned. She basically went through in 30 seconds what Discord did in 2 seasons.

Hell, Discord still isn't fully trusted. He likes to be jerk, though.

 

[DrForester]

It's true, but like, what else do they do in Equestria? I guess maybe they could've sent her home to her parents for a bit.

She should have gone back to live with the people in Equal-town.

 

[PaulloDEC]

She should have gone back to live with the people in Equal-town.

I'm wondering whether that might end up being what eventually happens to her. I thought it was interesting that they specifically showed the town still being there, waiting for her.

 

[wookieofdoom]

Sigh...a great ending to the greatest season. What a journey. How many instant classics did we get from this season? Cutie Markless 1&2, Castle Sweet Castle, Tanks for the Memories, Lost Treasure of Griffinstone, SLICE OF FREAKING LIFE, Amending Fences, Do Princess Dream...,Rarity Investigates, Scare Master, Crusader of the Lost Mark, Hearth Breakers, The Mane Attraction and Cutie Remark 1&2. Everything else not mentioned was at least good and I thought there were only two real duds: Princess Spike and What About Discord. This season did the most world building since season one, and actually capitalized on it's continuity. I suppose if you are a new comer, this is probably the least approachable season, but those of us who have stuck with it, this season has been nothing but rewards.

I am going to miss the show as it goes on another long hiatus, and I fear our shrinking community here on ponygaf will only get smaller. But I am here till the bitter end, I wouldn't want to miss any of it for the world.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Header for the next OT?

Spoiler

It's a reference to The Shining

Also, Applejack cameo in the new Littlest Pet Shop episode. I forgot that show was back.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Sigh...a great ending to the greatest season. What a journey. How many instant classics did we get from this season? Cutie Markless 1&2, Castle Sweet Castle, Tanks for the Memories, Lost Treasure of Griffinstone, SLICE OF FREAKING LIFE, Amending Fences, Do Princess Dream...,Rarity Investigates, Scare Master, Crusader of the Lost Mark, Hearth Breakers, The Mane Attraction and Cutie Remark 1&2. Everything else not mentioned was at least good and I thought there were only two real duds: Princess Spike and What About Discord. This season did the most world building since season one, and actually capitalized on it's continuity. I suppose if you are a new comer, this is probably the least approachable season, but those of us who have stuck with it, this season has been nothing but rewards.

I am going to miss the show as it goes on another long hiatus, and I fear our shrinking community here on ponygaf will only get smaller. But I am here till the bitter end, I wouldn't want to miss any of it for the world.

Well said, agreed with all of the above. Who'd have imagined that five years on from that first episode we'd still have a show as bold, imaginative and confident as the one we enjoyed this year?

I'm sure there'll be some interesting bits and pieces between now and S6, and I hope there'll still be a few of us around to chat about them. I'm certainly riding this pony train til the last stop.

Header for the next OT?

Spoiler

It's a reference to The Shining

I've actually never seen The Shining. That's kinda embarrassing, right?

On the topic of the OT however, any lurkers who might be reading, don't forget that we've got an OT thread RIGHT HERE that we'll no doubt be migrating back to soon.

 

[wookieofdoom]

I thought that was great. Yes, the time-travel made almost no sense. No, it was never, ever going to.

I guess I'm the only person who thought the lead-up to Starlight stepping down felt really natural and well-paced? The whole point was that she initially didn't know she was destroying the future by messing with the past; as far as she knew, all she was messing with was the Mane 6. Even seeing the burnt-out timeline that Twilight dragged her to almost wasn't enough to convince her.

I agree with this, I though Starlight's turn was a lot more natural and convincing than a lot other resolutions in this show (probably its greatest inconsistency). I mean, Twilight showed Starlight the outcome of her actions, Starlight still needed convincing and Twilight talked her through it and made her see what she was doing. I mean, crap it was a lot better than Anakin's poor excuse of a turn.

As far as the others accepting Starlight, well, that's the best part of who they are. No matter what somepony puts them through, they are always willing to forgive them and accept them into their friendship. And damn it that is one of the biggest takeaways from this show. Imagine if we were all willing to resolve our problems through talking, and then forgiving each other and loving them as our friend. Can you imagine what a world we would live in? The mane 6's ability to easily forgive and forget represents the best of what we could be if we just embraced kindness, honesty, loyalty, joy, generosity and hell even magic. As cheesy as all that sounds. It's why I love this damn show. It's the simplest lessons that we need to learn from again and again.

 

[PaulloDEC]

I agree with this, I though Starlight's turn was a lot more natural and convincing than a lot other resolutions in this show (probably its greatest inconsistency). I mean, Twilight showed Starlight the outcome of her actions, Starlight still needed convincing and Twilight talked her through it and made her see what she was doing. I mean, crap it was a lot better than Anakin's poor excuse of a turn.

That's pretty much how I reasoned it. Starlight was basically doomed as a villain from the very start, because while she displayed a lot of bad qualities, she was never really evil the way characters like Tirek or Sombra were. She had a philosophy she was willing to subjugate others in the pursuit of, but could she have stood up to Celestia? Luna? Discord? Even Cadance? Had she been challenged, would she have even tried?

That being the case, she's really just a unicorn with an attitude problem. All she ever really needed was someone to listen to her problems and help her understand there's ways of dealing with your feelings that don't involve erasing cutie marks or jealously ruining friendships via time travel.

As far as the others accepting Starlight, well, that's the best part of who they are. No matter what somepony puts them through, they are always willing to forgive them and accept them into their friendship. And damn it that is one of the biggest takeaways from this show. Imagine if we were all willing to resolve our problems through talking, and then forgiving each other and loving them as our friend. Can you imagine what a world we would live in? The mane 6's ability to easily forgive and forget represents the best of what we could be if we just embraced kindness, honesty, loyalty, joy, generosity and hell even magic. As cheesy as all that sounds. It's why I love this damn show. It's the simplest lessons that we need to learn from again and again.

Also very true. In Equestria, nothing is more powerful than friendship. Never mind the fact that their world kinda depends on harmony to survive; they just do it because it's the right thing to do.

 

[Infinite Justice]

That being the case, she's really just a unicorn with an attitude problem. All she ever really needed was someone to listen to her problems and help her understand there's ways of dealing with your feelings that don't involve erasing cutie marks or jealously ruining friendships via time travel.

Props to Twilight not making it seems like it was a trivial issue Glimmer was going through with the attitude to match (i.e "eh, that was the issue? you were doing it wrong").

Also if Glimmer actually didn't go to magic school for training and can do all of that then her potential is truly through the roof.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Random comments:

The new banner at ED reminded me, this season has been pretty great about introducing popular new ships characters. Tree Hugger, Moondancer, Marble Pie, Coloratura, and Starlight Glimmer, and to a lesser extent, Limestone Pie (I can't think of any ships with her). Last season, I believe, was just Coco and Maud, and to a lesser extent, Mane-iac, despite attempts to push her.

Some people pointed out that Spike's line, "Well that didn't work," could be a reference to the fanfic Hard Reset (TV Tropes link), a time loop story about a Changeling invasion where every loop starts with Spike saying that line. What makes this more likely is that Spike says this in the episode at the start of the Changeling timeline.

Going back to how the timelines could be different, someone elsewhere made a comparison to the Doctor Who episode "Turn Left", which explores a timeline where the Doctor dies. In that episode, the villains from after that point are largely still defeated, but by different people and at a higher cost. So, for example. in the Flim and Flam Universe, all the other villains could have been defeated at the cost of the princesses no longer ruling, leaving the brothers to buy up everything.

Screencaps:
You can see Trixie way in the background at the top

This part was surprisingly brutal, especially when you notice Fluttershy getting wrecked.

Speaking of which, filly Fluttershy is still adorable.

And a comparison with "Cutie Mark Chronicles". Major changes were fixing the filly without wings, and adding a blur.

Huge fan content dump:

"Friends are Always There For You" remix. The song is growing on me, but I realized that the part that bothers me the most is the extreme closeup of Starlight. It's a weird place to put a close up and she's making a weird expression.

Starting with the epic:
Times of Strife
Lost in Time, Lost in Space

AU character art:
Stop Bugging Me - Embedding the variant without text in the description.
Sombra War - Good humanization of Sombra timeline Rainbow's team. This version of Dash has been getting a ton of art in particular.
The True Dark Queen - This version of Rarity is getting a lot of fanart too. Even shipping art.

Starlight and a Twilight:
This is Not What I Expected - Nice art, besides the cutie mark mistake (unless it's intentional)
Old Friends - Filly Starlight's pigtails are adorable.
Life is Magic - Crossover with Life is Strange.

And lastly, MLP Season 5 in a Nutshell

 

[PaulloDEC]

Going back to how the timelines could be different, someone elsewhere made a comparison to the Doctor Who episode "Turn Left", which explores a timeline where the Doctor dies. In that episode, the villains from after that point are largely still defeated, but by different people and at a higher cost. So, for example. in the Flim and Flam Universe, all the other villains could have been defeated at the cost of the princesses no longer ruling, leaving the brothers to buy up everything.

Gah, "Turn Left". I've been wanting to use exactly what you described as an example since yesterday, but I couldn't put my finger on which episode it came from.

And re: fanart/fanworks, I feel the finale alone is going to provide enough fuel to keep the fan-fires burning for a good long while. Add to that all the new ships characters ships the rest of the season introduced and I'm guess it's a good time to be a creative fan.

 

[Fat4all]

Oh shit, how did I not expect the Life Is Strange X MLP art?!?

 

[PaulloDEC]

Just rewatched the finale. Still really like it (I know, shocker).

Most touching moment, IMO:

Oh shit, how did I not expect the Life Is Strange X MLP art?!?

No-one can really predict what the next MLP crossover fan-art will be. Other than just expecting absolutely everything, I guess.

 

[DrForester]

Just rewatched the finale. Still really like it (I know, shocker).

Most touching moment, IMO:

I'm a terrible person for seeing that and thinking Applejack is making a "Aww, but I really like war" face.

 

[PaulloDEC]

I'm a terrible person for seeing that and thinking Applejack is making a "Aww, but I really like war" face.

Applejack pre-war: "Doo dee doo, working on the apple farm with mah family!"

Applejack mid-war: "Doo dee doo, working on the apple farm with mah family!"

I mean, maybe things are going just fine for AJ!

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

Was really enjoying the finale until we got Starlight Glimmer's backstory which was a heaping pile of nonsense. She goes from being a cult leader to "my friend left me and I was too stupid to write him letters" in the span of a minute.

Awful.

I didn't quite care for the conclusion of friendship being magic, which is silly since that's the subtitle of the show. It was just so thick and everywhere. Overbearing might be a good word.

Season five was strange. Had some of my favorite episodes of the whole show while also being just really mediocre throughout. I'd say it had six outright bad episodes too, with part two of the finale being one of them.

I don't like going into a big hiatus on a sour note

 

[DrForester]

I thought the quality of the season was pretty good. I don't know if I'd call any of the episodes bad. I'd say a few like the finale and episodes like Princess Spike had flawed executions, but were still entertaining sometimes.

 

[SigmasonicX]

I'm of the opinion that this was the best season of the show. The only episodes I felt were particularly weak were "Appleoosa's Most Wanted", "Princess Spike", and just the body of "Brotherhooves Social".

On another note, Friendship Games is heading to US Netflix on December 1, tomorrow.

 

[Infinite Justice]

Just rewatched the finale. Still really like it (I know, shocker).

Most touching moment, IMO:

Was cool to see she didn't change in regards to her brutal honesty even though that future sucked major ass.

 

[DrForester]

Favorite part of the episode for me, other than Starlight's sarcastic clap, was Starlight talking the bullies out of making fun of Fluttershy. It was hilariously evil watching Twilight completely and totally fail to deal with that, and I would have preferred more things like that to big magic fights.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Favorite part of the episode for me, other than Starlight's sarcastic clap, was Starlight talking the bullies out of making fun of Fluttershy. It was hilariously evil watching Twilight completely and totally fail to deal with that, and I would have preferred more things like that to big magic fights.

It was fine as a one-off joke, but I don't think additional scenes like that would work. Besides, you can't top Twilight being creepy to filly Dash. EDIT: Wait, that was a different iteration. Though I suppose that shows that there was another scene like that already.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Was really enjoying the finale until we got Starlight Glimmer's backstory which was a heaping pile of nonsense. She goes from being a cult leader to "my friend left me and I was too stupid to write him letters" in the span of a minute.

Awful.

Didn't seem like nonsense to me. Zecora makes a big deal earlier in the story to point out that small events can sometimes have large consequences, and this is a prime example of that. That losing a friend could change a person's philosophy and set them down a radical path long-term doesn't seem unlikely to me at all.

 

[DrForester]

Zecora's line is as handwavy as the fourth wall break in Austin Powers.

When it comes right down to it, none of the timelines make any sense and work in contradiction not only to each other, but to previous episodes.

But it's time travel, and there are only two ways to do time travel.

Carefully craft out a story, and account for paradoxes and plot holes. Even then, the best time travel stories have plot holes. "It's About Time" went with the cleanest kind of time travel story, a loop, but even that has problem. Let The Doctor tell you what it is.

The second way is to just have fun with the subject. Accept that time travel is silly, and make a story fun enough to overcome all that. Example here was this episode. Starlight's backstory problems aside, the time travel stuff was fun, even if totally illogical. Even Star Trek has fantastic time travel episodes that make no sense when looked at critically. Take the final TNG episode, widely regarded as one of the finest episodes of the series. There's very big plot holes in that story, but it's fun.

Time Travel requires a lot of suspension of disbelief. I won't begrudge people that can't enjoy this episode because of it (heck, I'll still bash the S4 finale relentlessly for how little sense it made). It is a lot to just ignore. But I guess being a Sci-Fi (specifically Doctor Who) it's easy for me to just ignore the illogical nature of time travel.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Zecora's line is as handwavy as the fourth wall break in Austin Powers.

I wasn't even talking in terms of time travel to be honest. Simply from the perspective of... well, life, things that initially seem small and insignificant (like a child losing their only friend for example) can later have huge and unforeseeable consequences.

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

Didn't seem like nonsense to me. Zecora makes a big deal earlier in the story to point out that small events can sometimes have large consequences, and this is a prime example of that. That losing a friend could change a person's philosophy and set them down a radical path long-term doesn't seem unlikely to me at all.

They have a postal system in Equestria. They exist.

It was a really, really lame backstory given how awesome the first two episodes of this season were.

 

[DrForester]

The backstory just needs to be expanded on. That needed to be page 1, not the whole story. Maybe they'll do that in S6, but it should have been done in this episode.