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[glapplebloom]

((I remembered the snow this time! Thank you thecoltalition))

[glapplebloom]

We’re back to IDW and their most recent trip to Generation 4.

The Rise of Cadance is a One Shot Comic showing the origins of Cadance. This is something we learned in the story “Twilight and the Crystal Heart Spell”. With their new focus on focusing on specials and not on-going stories, we’ll probably see more of these until the next Generation comes. So let’s see how IDW adapted this short story within a short story and see how they either adapted great, or mess up not only its continuity but their own.

We begin with Cadance looking over her kingdom reminiscing of her past. Like Twilight, she wonders if she did earn the title of Alicorn and she remembers what she gained and lost to achieve the title. When she was a baby, she was found all alone by Earth Ponies. The implication she was left behind because she would be found and hopefully be given a better home. So why is she named Cadance? It's because She dances in the air like a cadenza in a song. Thus Mi Amore Cadenza.

She was the only Pegasus in a village of Earth Ponies but instead of the Naruto treatment everyone admired and loved her. But then one day, it seemed like all the love was sucked out of the village. A Sorceress called Prisma is here and apparently sensed the growing love Cadance brought to the village. She can't stand it, so she found a way to drain the love the ponies have. The mother figure, who I don’t know, thinks the best way to save Cadance is to leave the village.

Too bad Prisma showed up and sucked the love of the mother figure (who got named dropped as Alloro Legarra). Prisma tried to do it to Cadance, but apparently she has so much love it defeated her magic amulet. In the book, it was explained that the Amulet that enhanced Prisma’s Negative Emotions also enhanced Cadance’s positive ones. In the comic, Celestia shows up after this and doesn't know how Cadance did it. And Cadance, being the love Pony, refused to see Prisma go to Tartarus.

She apparently senses that Prisma was shunned long ago and only took love because she was afraid to express it. The necklace Cadance wears now was that same amulet Prisma wore. Prisma gave it to Cadance for saving her from Tartarus. And then she gets her cutie mark. Seeing a Crystal Heart, Celestia decided to take Cadance with her to Canterlot. Cadance didn’t want to leave, but she knew Celestia had to have a reason for such. Plus, her mother figure did suggest this is going to be good for her.

In Canterlot, she wondered why she was in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns since she was a Pegasus. While the school didn’t bully her or anything, they were probably wondering the same thing. She also trained with the Pegasus Royal Guard, who taught her how to be a better flyer than she was at her old village. We also learn she did like to babysit kids, as Celestia allowed her to take care of younger students while helping pick out the next great talent for the future.

While Cadance wonders why she’s the only student living in the palace, we see Celestia taking her into more Royal affairs. Also a Shining Armor appearance. Cadance still continued to do this until one day, the Dragons attacked. She tried, but she was young and they were multiple and fully grown. Celestia shows up and tells her to take care of the kids, but one dragon follows them. It was the leader of this group and she was angry, but Cadance has something nobody has developed yet: Empathy.

She sensed the pain behind the anger and deduced long ago, something bad happened to some younglings and she built an army for revenge. But Cadance tells her that revenge won’t change the past or fix her feelings. She does apologize for the ponies of the past and convinces her to leave the young ponies alone. The Dragon agrees just as Celestia shows up to fight. And this is what led to Cadance turning into an Alicorn.

Apparently when Celestia saw the cutie mark, she recognized Cadance as a descendant of the first Princess of the Crystal Empire: Princess “I know what is happening but I’m an idiot so I let it keep happening and expect the guy who knows nothing but pain to join my side” Amore. Her parents knew of this fate and hoped the village of Earth Ponies would save her from this fate, but nope. Now as an Alicorn, she can’t take care of the fillies anymore but now Celestia introduces her to Twilight. And that’s where it ends.

No modern Cadance to follow up thinking about her past. No revisiting her old Adopted Parents. Just her meeting Twilight and creating the chant we all know and love (unless you have to do it in front of people). I will say there are some good things about it. More names so we can put a name to Cadance’s caregiver. The Artwork is always great. And for an adaption it does expand more and include more things. But then you realize this is from IDW and their issues pop up.

The implication that Cadance is a descendant of the Crystal Empire Princess has always been implied, but to make her be one to the poor leader that was Amore definitely watered down that experience for me. The fact that instead of seeing Cadance struggle to be an Alicorn, she was basically trained to be one before she was one definitely limited the potential for storytelling. Thank goodness Celestia saw this coming because of the Cutie Mark and not that fake “I can see the future” powers people think she has.

But the big thing that sucks for me is the lack of continuity. The necklace Prisma had was not the necklace Cadance wears today. She gave that necklace to Twilight which caused issues there. And while you say that could be a retcon, we also see IDW’s own take on how Shining met Cadance be ruined because it was Shining Armor taking advantage of a babysitting gig to have Cadance meet Twilight. But what’s the point of him having a difficult time asking her out when she was most likely babysitting Twilight more often.

So to do something I haven’t done in a long time, how would this fit in GLAB’s Canon. Definitely going to have Cadance become an alicorn after defeating Prisma. To show her struggles with being an Alicorn when you have such high expectations placed upon you. So when the Dragons attack, that’s when Celestia decides to give Cadance the title of the Princess of Love. Cut back to the present to have Cadance remember all that and then flying to that Earth Pony village to see her friends and family there once more. 

And no relation to Amore. 

[glapplebloom]

((Do you think Twilight can do it?))

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Let’s see what these two sisters are like...

It begins with Pipp streaming. Today is the Royal Princess Portrait Day and while she is excited, Zipp is not. She’s more focused on what Twilight was saying last episode. Spoilers, while they do figure it out, it's not because of Zipp’s investigations. After the opening title, we see Opaline spying on them (because Sunny most likely didn’t bring that looking mirror with her). Opaline doesn’t like the idea of Zipp trying to figure this out so with Misty’s help plans to take them out of the picture. 

Back with the others, Sunny is also excited because she’s learning about the tradition from actual princesses. Zipp and Pipp get into a little argument because while Zipp thinks figuring out Twilight’s message is important, Pipp was hoping Zipp will finally chill for a day because she used to love this day. Sadly, things change and what was interesting for some before may not be now. Like imagine revisiting your favorite childhood cartoon only to spot all the flaws and the “bad at the time but we didn’t know better” writing.

Queen Haven shows up. After some greeting, the pampering begins. Zipp wanted to skip out on it but Haven insisted. But after giving her mother headphones Zipp tries to bail. But between Pipp not wanting to go and Sunny not being convincing enough for Zipp (though I think she did a good job), Zipp decides to stay. But an unknown message on her phone gives her an idea. Show that flower to Pipp and convince her to look for them. Pipp agrees because those were the flowers they had when they were fillies. Zipp only thought about it being good for her Ponygram. 

Despite Pipp’s worries, she couldn’t help herself because the flower is rare and between the memories and the potential for clicks, she can’t resist going with Zipp. So Zipp asks Sunny to cover for them. At the beach (after another photo was sent to them due to Zipp wanting to investigate), we see the two not really paying attention to each other. Zipp wants to investigate and ask for Pipp’s input while she’s busy looking for the flower and taking pictures of the places. 

Zipp also doesn’t understand the idea of why someone would want to steal magic when they all have it. Good to know they don’t hoard wealth but apparently fail to understand greedy people would want more. Because in their mind and their pride, they deserve it. Back with Sunny, she’s talking about how to improve Maretime Bay with Haven who thinks it's a good idea to have a community garden despite not gardening. Then she noticed her daughters were gone.

Sunny tries to lie but it isn’t working like how she wanted it to, so she suggests Queen Haven sings a song. Cue Pony Love. No wonder Pipp is such a good singer. Back with the sisters, Zipp eventually finds a trail but with Pipp still on the grind the two get into a fight. Zipp reveals it was never about the flower, she just wanted to escape the Portrait Day stuff. Despite the argument, they still want to find this flower. And in a cave that looks familiar in a later Tell Your Tale, they find it.

Instead of doing anything with the flower, they argue. And “totally not because Misty caused it”, a cave-in happens. So now they’re stuck. Back with Haven and Sunny, the song is over. Sunny lies once again to say they’re heading to Zephyr Heights for the Portrait. We learn that Haven is worried about them being on their own but Sunny ensures them that being at the Bright House has brought them closer together. Cue them stuck in a cave not being together.

But before that, we see Haven talk about them when they were kids. They used to be so close together despite their different personalities. Yet as they aged, they were drifting apart. It got to a point where Zipp's quest for knowledge ruined a live performance of Pipp’s. But don’t worry, the discovery of magic cured that issue. But their differences weren’t fixed and now they’re stuck in a cave with no escape, no way to contact people, and only their feelings for each other to keep them company.

Like in a certain Moon Girl episode, all that pent up negative emotion got let out, so now they can only sit back and understand each other. Zipp apologized (since this was all her fault) as she tricked Pipp to play hooky with her and made the entire situation all about her. She begins to sing their Portrait Day Song, which Pipp sings along sometime after. The Magic of Music happens, causes the dark cave to go bright and they are back on the same page. 

Thanks to the power of Finding a Signal and Geo-Location, the Pippsqueaks rescue them from the cave and the two head off to Zephyr Heights. They arrive, after Haven was there, but get out of punishment by showing them the flower. And while they’re covered in seaweed, the Portrait Day went off with no problem. But that’s not where the episode ends. It ends with Misty coming back to Opaline to tell her she failed to capture them, but now Opaline plans on being more directly involved. Next episode, she does so by being Sunny’s reflection.

Overall, it was a pretty good episode. We get to know more about Zipp and Pipp’s history about how they were close together (and we see this with them having a song and the first portrait), the two act like sisters for the better and worse (nobody argues then gets back together like family), and more Queen Haven is definitely a treat. Bonus is we also see the continuing storyline of Opaline continue, as this episode sets up the next. A rare thing outside two parters.

[glapplebloom]

((My take on the Cider thing))

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Apparently it's not as easy as you would think.

Lowballing is, in terms of Verses, is giving something the bare minimum. Why do people do this? While this Wiki Article suggests it negatively reflect on a character, the truth is to give a reasonable idea of what they are capable of. In most cases, the lowest calculation (or Low End) is used in Vs because by giving them the maximum, you could possibly give a character too much credit when a feat (unfound at the time or in the future) can show the Highball (High End) is not within their wheelhouse. You usually see Highballs being used to show just how below a person is in comparison to their opponent.

An example of such is seen in Fulgore Vs Sektor 2 by Not Death Battle. Someone on Discord clarified the calculations but both Fulgore’s High and Low Ends are in the Megatons of TNT. Sektor is basically a jobber of the Mortal Kombat series and his best feat is his goons holding Sonya whose gun barely damaged Tremor. The Highball of Sektor being able to scale to Tremor’s City Shaking feat which ends up in the Kilotons. So even Sektor being heavily favored in the calculations still is not enough to defeat Fulgore. 

Simple logic, right? Lowball used to give someone the Low End of the feat in question. But others have their own ideas. I won’t say which video, but I recently saw a Vs Video where someone uses the term in both the correct way and the wrong way. To hide their identity, we’re changing the feats. Character A has flown from one planet to Earth as a feat. The person correctly used an hour because the time it took for that to happen is undetermined, but considering they were crashing to the planet it couldn’t have been more than a day. They also gave the closest planet to Earth, which is Mercury most times.

Character B is faster than Character A. Much faster, but we don’t exactly know by how much. What is the lowball in this situation? If you said “use the calculation of Character A because we don’t know much about Character B’s speed”, you are correct. Sadly, the person considers giving Character B a 20x as a lowball. That is not a lowball, that is just an assumption. Character B could be twice as fast or a million times faster, we don’t know the amount so we lowball it to Character A’s speed. If Character C, their opponent, has a similar speed feat to Character A, we would believe the two speeds are close enough to be a tie.

But why not make the assumption that Character B is 2 times or more faster? That’s the thing, we don’t really know how much faster they are. That’s the thing about fiction: they don’t really take into consideration Vs Stuff. Character B is faster because Character B is the main character while Character A is just an ally. So of course the creators will have the best stuff saved for Character B while Character A doesn’t get as much. Heck, the whole feat in question was probably something they didn’t put too much thought into.

I get being a fan and putting your favorite as high as possible. You’ve seen it in my comics with how I treat Discord, HIM and Hal Jordan. But when it comes to a Vs Debate, you have to be more realistic when trying to find calculations for these unrealistic characters. If you just keep thinking your character is unbeatable despite the opposition having better feats, you’re going to find yourself either not being very active in the Vs Community or be surrounded by people with a similar mindset. Both the fans that agree with you, and those who use the same tactics for their favorite character.

[glapplebloom]

Twilight: If only I could meet them...

[glapplebloom]

Because at this point, I would like to think happy thoughts...

This year, I made a New Year’s Resolution to buy a specific New York Scratch Off Ticket. Why? To have an excel sheet showing how much I spent Vs how much I won. I know most people already know you’re more likely to lose money over win it but I would like to have a visual representation of that. Because once I scratched that last one on December 31st, that will be the last time I buy anything with the lottery. Of course, there is a bonus goal just from my choice of Scratch Off...

Win $1,000 a Week for Life. A $2 Scratch Off Ticket that promises to deliver you a Thousand Dollars Per week for life with a guaranteed 1 Million Guaranteed Minimum Payout. They also have a chance to win a Cash 4 Life Ticket, a game that’s $1,000 Per day for Life in its main goal. While the chances of winning are Astronomical, (according to Lottery Odds.org, to win that top prize it is 1 in 4,809,700) there is the possibility one out of my 365 tickets could be lucky. I seriously doubt it, but I would like to imagine what I would do with such a prize..

0 - Don’t take the Payout Guarantee

From my experience, the more money you have access to the more likely you’re going to spend it. While I like to be frugal, family doesn’t. If they need money, they sometimes ask me and it's not like I can’t say no. Bills need to be paid and such. So having a thousand per week would ensure I have a good cash flow while not worrying about spending all my winnings. Because I can’t, it’ll be a thousand dollars per week.

1 - Do my stuff full time

My current job (not Death Battle or my Personal Stuff) does not pay a lot. I’ve been trying to find a new job, but no takers. Not even a reply saying “we have received your application”. And despite getting stuff I do want to get done completed, more time to do said stuff would always be a better option. So if I do Win for Life, I can do that. I could quit my job, get more time to do Research for Death Battle and Brick Off Reviews. Heck, I think if this happens I’ll continue my Sprite Comics stuff to end on the 40th Anniversary. (Assuming the economy is in tact)

2 - Buy an Apartment

I am currently living with my sister. She plans on moving to Florida one day. That means I’ll be moving as well, either to Florida or with my other sister. But if I Win For Life, I could buy said apartment instead. That means they’ll always have this apartment just in case something makes them move back. And I definitely could budget to pay what I need to pay with $4000 a month. (Assuming the economy is in tact)

3 - Invest in My Stuff

More commissions to have specials like animated fight scenes or artwork for specific scenes. More commissions to either upgrade some sprites or make new ones. Better set up to make Brick Off Review like a possible better camera, better lighting and a dedicated section for the building and such. An Actual Camera Stand. And try to be an investor to Death Battle, though I doubt the amount I could put in would be a significant amount. But it could help with certain other things. (Assuming the economy is in tact)

4 - Donate to Games Done Quick

I try to watch Games Done Quick. Sadly, I never have enough funds to actually put in significant money. I know every Dollar Counter, but I just like the idea of putting in more money. Maybe actually attend one in person. (Assuming the economy is in tact) Which leads to...

5 - Go to More Conventions

I do wish I could go to more conventions. Sadly, a large chunk of them are out of my state and I would need a way to travel there. Plane rides are expensive. So are Train Rides. And I can’t drive. But if I Win for Life, I could afford said tickets and go to them on my own. (Assuming the economy is in tact)

6 - Start a Re-Animate Project

This is something I wanted to do but I doubt there would be people interested in it. But that’s where Gator Goat Johnny’s Reanimated Projects inspire me: they pay for the reanimators to do it. Pretty much animators sign up and give samples of their work, the lead either accepts or denies, and lets the animator pick a scene (or scenes) that have a set price to them depending on the difficulty of the scenes. While I would have done it for free, the money is a great incentive to get it done before the deadline.

So what would my Re-Animate Project be if I could do this? Brutality: an ancient flash animation by McFretN. On newgrounds it was replaced with some new song, but the original was Korn’s “Let’s Get this Party Started”. I was thinking of having Brandon Yates make a DBZ-like cover to the song and the Re-Animated Project would be using that song. (Assuming the economy is in tact)

7 - Get Smack Studio

Smack Studio is a Platform Fighting Game Engine with a unique addition: A tool to make sprite poses easier. I could make more of the sprites I have made, especially the bigger ones, easier to animate with this. This could also in theory let me make more poses that I can’t do easily on my own. It could save me a bunch of work. (Assuming the economy is in tact)

8 - Them’s Fightin Herds Community Edition

Dedicated fans managed to create new characters for Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3. Maximilian Dood personally paid people to change Marvel Vs Capcom Infinite into something much better than it was before. I want to do the same with Them’s Fighting Herds. Fix the unbalanced issues of the recent new additions. Change the voices (since they would be cheaper and allow...). New Characters. And more importantly a complete Story Mode Experience. It would most likely be all fan-made content but if I could afford the right people to do all this it would complete the promise Them’s Fightin Herds made. (Assuming the economy is in tact)

And that’s currently what I’m thinking of, as a lot of the others can fit somewhere above (like buying specific sets for Brick Off Reviews and such). What would you do if you won a Thousand a Week for Life? Assuming we don't end up in a new Great Depression.

[glapplebloom]

((Man, its been a while since I used Silver Spoon.))

@ask-gadzooks

[glapplebloom]

((If you know, you know))

[glapplebloom]

(Giving the Credit to the Idea)

[glapplebloom]

Time to bite the bullet on this show...

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir (Miraculous Ladybug for short) is a French Made Magical Girl Show (that’s co-produced by Toei?!?) that has become so popular it continues to exist to this day. I never gave it a chance because I was invested in other stuff at the time and it never peaked my interest strong enough to give it a shot. But because this is One Shot and I haven’t had an idea to review (Saving Sakamoto Days for later), I figured I might as well give Miraculous Ladybug a shot now.

Episode 1 is called Stormy Weather and it has a competition to be the next weather girl. Considering the title, I’m going to guess the loser is going to be the Monster of the Week. We then see Marinette Dupain-Cheng chasing a girl who took her hat. I thought about my little sister but it seems to be a Babysitting gig. Also she is a little familiar with her, so this episode is not an origin story. When I presume her friend (Alya Césaire) comes knocking, she has a scope that a blonde boy is in the park participating in a photoshoot. Adrien Agreste who Marinette seemingly has a crush on.

Alya offers to take over while Marinette goes to the Photoshoot, but Marinette is taking full responsibility for the kid and doesn’t want Alya to suffer. But that girl has some magic of her own because not only did she calm the kid down but convince them all to go to the Photoshoot. She becomes a Magical Girl in the future, right? Back at the contest, the girl whose name is not a weather pun won and that’s when this guy shows up sensing anger. Hawk Moth is his name and he darkens a moth to send his Akuma to Pun Named Girl. 

So the Moth makes Aurore Beauréal at this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country, localized entirely within this elevator, into an evil Magical Girl called Stormy Weather. They call this Akumatized. At the Photoshoot, the girls are stalking the boy. The guy seems interested, but a Photoshoot only lets him wave. Marinette reminds me a lot of Usagi/Serena/Bunny/Sailor Moon about how she reacts to boys who like her. At least in the earlier seasons.

Back with Stormy Weather, she captures the winner of the Weather Girl contest in an elevator by blocking the entryway with an ice wall. I’m also going to guess she froze the entire Elevator shaft to prevent her from just going off a different floor. Back with the girls, Manon Chamack (the little girl) wants a balloon. So much so she’s causing a disturbance in the Photoshoot. Alya offers to take her to get it but she wants Marinette. I will give her credit, she is taking responsibility well.

Like ping pong we’re now back to Stormy Weather who attacks the crowd and blows them away. And with the main character, Manon wants to go on the Merry Go Round and while Marinette wants to go back, eventually gives in to the girl’s demands. Luckily the Ping Pong Game ends as Stormy Weather enters the area. Alya is a real one! When the Photo Guy wants a girl and picks Alya, she fakes an allergic reaction to an apple so she can offer Marinette to be the girl. If I get anything out of this show, it’s Alya deserves the title of best friend.

Alya continues to do so as she convinces Marinette to go to the photoshoot as she takes care of Manon despite protests. She is REALLY good with kids. But just as Marinette finally gets her shot at the Boy Toy, Stormy Weather (the villain) shows up. And that means it's time for the Magical Girl Transformation. And looking at the costume, was it really necessary? It's one full suit that’s skin tight with an accessory. I’ve seen Batgirl get dressed with a little bit more.

As expected, Adrien is the Catboy in the title and is looking for his Familiar but that guy is more playful. He had to bribe the thing to transform into his Magical Boy form, which again doesn’t seem worthy of a Magical Transformation Sequence. Maybe this is more of a Sentai than a Magical Girl. Ladybug tries to cut the ice but it's too slippery for her rope. She ensures Manon that Marinette didn’t forget her and she’ll be back. But to save them she has to defeat Stormy Weather.

Cat Noir meets Ice Queen (honestly a better name) first and is one cocky son of a cat but is immediately blown away. When the two meet up, it's like night and day. The whole Marinette failing when Adrien can’t give her the time of day turns into Cat Noir trying to hit on Ladybug only for her to intentionally not hit up on that. This is a nice change of pace from the earlier dynamic. So it's the two Vs Stormy Weather. So it's the Weather Wizard Vs what I presume is two Street Level Heroes.

Granted, their weapons seem like it could make up for it as Ladybug’s was able to cut the side of a bus to prevent squishing. After seeing Alya being the best, Storm Queen announces her plans to turn the country into a Winter Wonderland forever. On their way there, they figured out Stormy Weather is Aurore Beauréal. Too bad it was also a trap. They’re now in a dark building, but Cat Noir has night vision (being a cat and all that). One more with Alya keeping Manon calm and safe as we head to the final showdown. 

Ladybug does a move called a Lucky Charm and it gives her a Bath Towel. So most likely gives you what you need with no explanation. So while Cat Noir goes on the defense, Ladybug has a plan. And it works. Even the Bath Towel was in use. They took the weapon and purified the moth, letting it fly back to where it came from.... Possibly Hawk Moth. And once done, the Lucky Charm fixes everything, so no need for Car Insurance. 

Back in the end, Marinette is about to go for the photoshoot but the Photographer wants Manon instead. It is a cute set of pictures. Adrien gives big brother energy. Overall, I thought it was fine but I don’t think I’m going to follow it. I like Alya and the dynamic of Ladybug and Cat Noir, but I wasn’t feeling the civilian side of their story. But after seeing this one episode, I totally get the requests to see Ladybug in Death Battle. She seems fun to see in action.

[glapplebloom]

((I got that book reviewed and ready to be uploaded at the right time.))

Lyra Vector by TriteBristle. Magic Aura by ZuipatzuTeam

[glapplebloom]

Here is the end of Generation 4 when it comes to being animated...

Magic is Ahoof

After the play, while Rarity is happy how things went, the others are wondering about the random disappearances that are still happening as we speak. Twilight analyzes the residue left behind and determines everything is disappearing because of Chaos Magic. This makes Rarity go back to Detective Mode, with the others noticing the noir look. And it seems Pinkie wants to be Rarity’s partner in this detective work. 

As the others wait in Sugar Cube Corner, Rarity and Pinkie Pie investigate the disappearance of things. Rarity is about to say who is likely responsible when the others think it is their fault because they think they wished for something too big and it clogged everything up. Rarity tells them that it wasn’t any of them, it was Discord. He captured all the wishes and is going to make even more chaos. And that’s how this first part ends. Which means we continue in...

Journey to the Center of the 'Cord

They know Discord took their wishes, so they go to his house to try to get it back. They try to be serious, but apparently Discord is a great host so they’re having a good time until they remember why they were here. And since he refuses to answer, Discord just teleports them back to Sugarcube Corner. Fluttershy thinks he’s lying about taking the wishes, but the others think otherwise and wish there was a way to enter his mind and find out.

So Fluttershy suggests they shrink down and enter his mind so they can find out for themselves. Using a shrinking potion (though why Fluttershy needs it, I don’t know), they wait till Discord gets low enough to get the paper so they can enter his mind. The password to enter Discord’s maze is “Flutt3rshy!”, so if you’re using this password change it now. They eventually find out Discord did indeed take their wishes and just in time as he sneezed them out of his head.

They confront him about it and he offers them more sandwiches. And that’s how it ends. Kind of a lame ending, and the worst thing Discord has ever done, but the story continues...

One Last Wish

After that last episode, they know the only magic strong enough to counter Discord’s Chaos Magic is Wish Magic, which he took all of. That’s when Pinkie revealed something she discovered: Discord’s birthday is today and he never had a Birthday Party. So they think that throwing him a party would mean Discord could use his Birthday Wish to undo having all the wishes the others want granted to him. So they split up to get the party ready.

I want to mention we see Cheerilee for the first time and she runs a Party Decoration store now. Muffins also shows up to deliver a message to DJ P0n-3. But apparently Discord knew this and decided to Discord it up, so he rented all the decorations, gave Vinyl a vacation and replaced Pinkie’s normal sugar with her exploding sugar. Discord is happy, so he promises to return Ponyville back to normal with his wish. And that continues to...

Wild Heart Beats

It seems everything is back to normal until we see Twilight as Spike and Vice Versa. And the Wild Siders are suddenly here. So Twilight theorizes that Discord’s Cosmic Wish is interacting with the Wild Side Magic and making everything more chaotic. So now the two worlds are merging. Lightning Chill suggests merging the Cosmic Wish magic (which they saved) with theirs to fix everything and that works. Cue song. 

Like last season, it's alright but nor for me. It also references everything from this season. Near the episode, we are about to end the problem when Pinkie realizes that she is saying goodbye. Lightning Chill said that they may meet again. After all, you never know what the future holds. And it ends with the Wild Siders returning home and everything back to normal. It ends with Discord closing the book on this, having a portal next to it for in case of Chaos Needing, and it cracking.

And that’s how the series ends. Kind of sucks how Discord caused all this trouble and he gets rewarded with a birthday party. Like at least he got some comeuppance when he freed the villains, but he used up their wish, caused so much chaos, and not even a slap on the wrist. At least they gave this series an ending unlike Equestria Girls or Generation 5. And ironically enough, if the rumors of Generation 6 are true, Lighting Chill may be right about meeting them again.

But I don’t regret sitting through Pony Life. It definitely has its issues, but it is ultimately harmless. It did its job holding the fort for Generation 5, and it's not their fault G5 ended the way it did. It was Hasbro’s. And now with Pony Life over, let’s get back to the book series.

[glapplebloom]

((What age that specifically is, you got to figure that out.))

@ask-gadzooks

[glapplebloom]

How much limitation is good?

We begin the episode with Hitch trying to enter his office when Dahlia (told you she’ll be back) accidentally blocked the doors with her magic. She wanted to open it, but it seems she’s still struggling to control it. As he begins his morning rounds, he sees more evidence that Earth Pony Magic seems to be out of control. Hitch tries to play it cool but the Pippsqueaks (sounding differently from Tell Your Tale) take this as you’re free to use as MUCH magic as you could.

Meanwhile Sprout (making his first appearance outside the movie) accidentally created a big fruit that begins to roll down the street. Thanks to Hitch, no major damage and no pony got hurt. But he got crushed and covered in fruit guts. Sometime later, Sunny is seeing Hitch and is sad she missed it. Hitch seems to be talking about his fears as Sunny tries to convince him to use his Earth Power Magic. After showing Sunny the scene of the crime, they get into a debate.

Sunny thinks magic is a good thing and the possibilities are endless. But that’s what worries Hitch. We don’t know the limits and if not careful some pony could work on a spell that would suck up all of reality into a black hole. The question remains: will Hitch go Twilynanas soon? Back to the plot, it's basically about restrictions Vs freedom and Hitch promises to keep Sunny’s side of the argument in his mind before doing something about it.

As for me, I think some restrictions are good. After all, limitation is a great tool for creativity. Like let’s say you want to create a superhero. You could have absolute freedom and give them anything you want. But most likely, it’s going to be some similar stuff to others. I bet you’re thinking of giving them flight, super strength and a projectile type move. But if you were restricted to a specific thing, you could be much more creative. Epithet Erased created a bunch of unique abilities using the words of Soup and Dumb as their base. Buttercup was creating a lot of cool moves as living butter. And I bet ponies can be creative with their magic if given such a restriction.

When looking at the mirror to eat some fruit that fell on her, Opaline is ecstatic because she can finally spy on the pony. Until she closes it after she’s done. Opaline is wondering why Sunny isn’t using the mirror as much as she does. If Opaline was Sunny, she would be using that thing every minute. She’s going to get Misty to do something when we go back to Hitch. Sparky is being a little hyperactive when Izzy shows up. She sees this and offers to be a Dragon Sitter (hey, something from the Pitch Bible) and Hitch takes her up on that offer.

Hitch is making a speech to the town banning all Earth Pony Magic until he can take inventory of everything they could do. This is so once he understands what they’re capable of he can make rules that would take said abilities in mind. Honestly, it is pretty reasonable. You don’t just release a new drug without testing things and such. And you can’t make new laws without understanding the pros and cons of new things. Sunny doesn’t like that, thinking they need to practice in order to use it. Thing is, I’m on Hitch’s side.

His thing is to catalogue what Earth Pony Magic could do. This would require others to test their magic at a controlled pace. It would also give them a target to focus on future training when the new rules are applied. And since he is responsible for helping bring Earth Pony Magic to the world, he feels responsible for those who get hurt by said magic. So best to figure out things before things get worse. And funny enough, this helps them understand something about their magic later on in this episode. But we return to Izzy, who is having difficulty keeping Sparky in check.

Luckily Hitch left a video behind with instructions on what to do. Too bad Izzy isn’t really considering it as we see more evidence of Sparky’s transmutation magic. Back with Sunny, Hitch and Zipp, they’re with Dahlia (again, told you so) to get some records on magic usage. Though now I’m getting less and less on Hitch’s side as he’s being more restrictive after one test. Granted, a big failure of a test with somepony who caused all of Maretime Bay to have Neigh-Fever, but still.

We cut between Izzy babysitting (more like being okay with Sparky’s wild actions) and the Trio interviews ending with Hitch banning. But now it seems Magic is getting out of control. Earth Ponies are growing things without even willing to. So because they weren’t allowed to use Earth Pony Magic, the Magic is building up and like a broken dam is not able to hold it back. Hitch blames himself, he should have gone harder. So he goes to the Unity Crystal to try to reset the magic.

Izzy leaves it to a bird to take care of Sparky thinking he’s tired out, but at the Unity Crystal Hitch his hit with something and makes him decide against it. He was worried. Magic doesn’t follow any rules and he’s all about the rules. He’s Twilight Sparkle when trying to understand Pinkie Pie. He apologizes and the others agree to find out. That’s when their cutie marks put magic into the Crystal and we see a Twilight Sparkle Hologram.

Twilight informs them that if they’re seeing her, that means Magic is back more powerful than before (a nightmare in Vs Terms) and she knows about Earth Pony Magic... Somehow. She also informed them she used all her magic to put all of the Magic into the Crystal and to protect it from someone. Too bad it was breaking up. After an aside with Opaline, we see Maretime Bay ponies trying to stop it with the rules. Hitch and Sunny inform the Earth Poneis to use their magic but focus.

Good news, it's working and all the wild magic is dying down. Bad news, Sprout still fails and creates a bigger fruit rolling downhill. And the Pippsqueaks, in a rule of three, are once more trapped in Earth Pony magic. So the Mane Five work together to give Hitch’s magic the power to save them. They go back to Hitch’s office and find out Spike has Magic now. They visit the tree Hitch made earlier and Sparky touches it, making it glow. It is hinting at something, but that’s for later.

Overall, it was alright. This was a Hitch focus episode as it is him dealing with a new status quo and him figuring out how it works. But I think a shame was him not going full Twilynanas. He was definitely Twilighting, but not enough to go Twilynanas. Shame the Twilight Cameo created more questions that neither show would fully explore. And I don’t like the comics' conflicting backstories for it (they have two). And saying the Magic is stronger than it was before is going to be a nightmare in a Vs Debate because you got that saying and people may think Posey is stronger than Starlight Glimmer.

Next episode should be a pick me up since it's a Pipp episode. Zipp is there too. Also, I should say I really underappreciated the Friendship is Magic wiki. When I needed screenshots for the episodes of G4, they had so many it was so easy to do. But when it comes to G5, I'm not using derpibooru to get appropriate screenshots and even then not enough.

[glapplebloom]

((The stakes for this Winter Wrap Up))