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g0ldgauntlet · 3 months ago

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Memories I Unlocked About My Little Pony (G4) That Made Me Realize Some Things.

(Image Description is in alt text. Post also contains minor spoilers for Arcane Season 1)

The "Party of One" Episode

Pinkie's portrayal in that episode felt like a fairly accurate representation on how mental health can fuck with you (Though, please note that I'm not a mental health expert, I just found her really relatable in some ways as someone who is undiagnosed). She has some of the most intense range of emotions, even going a bit overboard before and during the initial birthday party for Gummy to the point of exhausting herself, but her friends don't judge her for her behavior (Even if it's clear from the expressions on their faces that they don't agree with every decision she makes).

However, the moment that Pinkie feels like her friends are hiding something or trying to avoid her, her mental health begins to decline (Especially because she knows she's being blatantly lied to). Then we see her lack of emotional regulation and starting to overthink everything based on these interactions, assuming the worst. You can't even fully blame her for it because, again, no one is communicating with her properly, but the severity of her actions still showcases that her mental health is playing a part in her blowing the situation a bit out of proportion.

Plus, there's this quote-

Tell me that my friends are all lying to me and avoiding me because they don't like my parties and they don't want to be my friends anymore!

-which is a conclusion that she came up with herself. No one actually said this to her, but she assumes this is the case, and she wants Spike to validate her assumption even though he knows that's not true either. Spike gives in and tells her what she wants to hear, though, and she enters a depression because of it. This is now what she actually believes.

Of course, after this, we get the infamous facial expression that is this:

By this point, Pinkie is in the middle of having a mental breakdown. She's trying to isolate herself from her friends, now viewing them as enemies, and she's replacing them with random things that she's trying to use as a coping mechanism as she attempts to host her after-party for Gummy. The kicker is that these methods are failing. Pinkie much more rapidly shows signs of losing her composure as she puppeteers for these inanimate objects like they're real people. She keeps twitching, and then eventually it feels as if the objects have actually come alive, but in reality, the next conversation that takes place is all in Pinkie's head. These inanimate objects take the form of her negative thoughts convincing her that she's justified in believing that her friends are actually horrible people who think horrible things about her and that she shouldn't associate with them ever again, even though Pinkie herself doesn't actually believe any of that deep down. It's a very good visualization of how Pinkie's new view of her friends is still eating away at her despite her trying to shift to a new sense of "normalcy." This scene is honestly a child-friendly version of Jinx having "conversations" with the voices in her head during Arcane Season 1 (Her even going as far as to make inanimate versions of her dead friends), with Jinx also initially trying to hold onto hope that Vi still cares about her despite her mental health continuously declining.

When the other five members of the Mane Six are finally ready to talk to Pinkie, she explodes and tries shutting them all out. While they're all concerned for her due to the way that she's acting, they don't give up on her. At most, Rainbow Dash just calls Pinkie's inanimate object party creepy once she finds her, but she's still determined to drag Pinkie away from the unhealthy atmosphere (And mindset, in a metaphorical sense) that she's locked herself into. Dash takes Pinkie to the barn at Sweet Apple Acres, and it's revealed that there was a party waiting for Pinkie. Unfortunately, she continues to assume the worst of her friends, and by extension, the motives behind the party.

It's then explained that the reason why they were avoiding and withholding information from Pinkie was because they were trying to keep the party a surprise, and it was meant to be their way of celebrating Pinkie's birthday...which she forgot was that exact day.

When I tell you that I felt secondhand embarrassment-

Yet, it's not even unrealistic. A bunch of misunderstandings and a lack of having the full context to the situation led Pinkie to assuming the worst outcome and letting her negative thoughts consume her, which I think multiple people (Myself included) have experienced before. Pinkie is still given a rather mature moment, though. She perks right up after realizing that she was wrong about her assumptions, but then she feels ashamed and embarrassed for how she acted and for having doubted her friends so much. However, they reassure her that they hold no ill will towards her and make it clear that anyone can experience these types of misunderstandings.

Then we get the central message from Twilight: That good friends have your best interests at heart, and you shouldn't immediately assume the worst of them. I think it's a good way to encourage people to work on their sense of trust in others, as well as encouraging them to find ways to manage their mental health in any way that they can without necessarily demonizing those who are struggling with those issues.

I think this episode was why I was never the biggest fan of the MLP creepypastas, such as Cupcakes. I can definitely see that people had fun with this crazy portrayal of Pinkie (And I'm not going to tell you that you're wrong for liking it), but I think her canon portrayal is much more sympathetic to those who struggle with mental health issues.

Fluttershy Would Swear If MLP Had a Higher Age Rating

I remembered how upset she could get whenever she was pushed too far, and one of those moments was when Twilight brought up Discord early on in the series. Fluttershy saying "That...big...dumb...MEANIE!" with such vitriol instantly made me think that she (Or the writers, honestly) actually wanted to say, "That...MOTHER...FUCKER!" instead.

Then I decided to check out an episode from one of the later seasons that I didn't watch: The one with her brother, Zephyr Breeze. Fluttershy says that she's "peeved," and it's treated like she said a swear word. She absolutely would have said that she was "pissed" if this wasn't a kids show.

Does Fluttershy need to swear? No, definitely not, but it would be very funny and not all that unrealistic to me if she dropped a word or two whenever she got angry.

Flash Sentry Deserved Better

This boy got screwed over so hard that it's honestly really sad. He's a good example of MLP's consistent lack of development within a lot of its male cast, but it was much more noticeable with him since he was the love interest of the main character, and as a result, a lot of attention was focused on just him.

I honestly wouldn't be able to tell you much about Shining Armor (in the show, not the comics, which I have never read) aside from him being Cadance's husband and Twilight's brother, and then basically being used as a partial plot device so that Cadance could use the power of love to defeat Queen Chrysalis. The same goes for Big Mac, whose most defining trait was not saying much besides two words, and I believe that Soarin also has minimal development. I don't even remember that much about King Sombra in the initial first few seasons aside from what the cast members tell us about him (though I could be wrong here, it's been a while since I watched the show and I heard he gets more characterization later).

It seems fairly obvious to me that a large reason behind why Flash - and his dynamic with Twilight by extension - was not expanded upon later was because Bronies (and by that, I specifically mean a very vocal crowd of older adult men) within the fandom sent so much backlash over this character in Hasbro's direction that they decided to sideline him instead. It still astonishes me that grown ass men had so much influence over this show when they weren't even the target demographic, and that's not even the only time that they had ruined something for other people. Flash was not that different from what I just mentioned about the male cast members, meaning that it's not a "Flash Sentry" problem - It's a "Male MLP Character" problem.

I will, however, acknowledge that the decision to have main universe Twilight go to a universe where the cast members are highschoolers was a strange decision by the writers. A college setting would have been just fine, especially since Lauren Faust has said that Twilight might be at least around the age of a college freshman in human years.

As a kid, I liked Flash, and I used to theorize about what the writers were going to do with him later on. As I got older, I realized that way more people liked Flash than I thought (Especially on TikTok. Good lord LOL), and others were mostly indifferent towards him. It was upsetting watching him get sidelined, and I didn't like Timber, who I had assumed was supposed to be Flash's replacement but ten times more annoying.

Flash had become the fandom scapegoat and punching bag. I think it would be more fun to see people reclaim him and make content of him in their image based on their headcanons or whatever, like they did with several other characters in the show. I, for one, am definitely planning on doing so myself!

Rainbow Dash Is Basically Sonic For The Girls and I Owe Her An Apology

I used to HATE Rainbow Dash as a kid. I thought she was the most annoying out of the Mane Six (With Fluttershy as a second-least favorite but that was a whole other thing. I don't dislike her anymore, don't kill me LOL). However, it was not lost on me that people would constantly make comparisons between her and Sonic, and I'm now realizing as an adult that this makes more sense beyond them both having super speed.

Dash is sweet, but like Sonic, she can also be cocky, competitive, heroic, and reckless. She is the one who influenced the rest of her friends' lives early on (Via the Sonic Rainboom), just as Sonic did with his friends, eventually forming a tight-knit group. She gets up to shenanigans with a cheerful, pink-themed character (Pinkie, of course), and has a yellow-themed friend who decides to stand up for herself and can keep up with Dash when she puts her mind to it (Fluttershy). Like Sonic, she also loves reading, and her presence revolves a bit around having a cool factor.

It is kind of shocking, yet funny that I held this double standard against Rainbow Dash as a child, since she and Sonic share similar traits, and yet I thought Sonic was cool while Rainbow Dash was unbearable. Internalized biases have a chokehold on people, I suppose.

Sunset Shimmer Is a Reformed Villain Done Right

(Please keep in mind that it's been years since I watched the Equestria Girls movies, so I might have some details wrong here)

She started out acting like an arrogant, highschool queen bee type of person who thought she was owed everything, only to be humbled by Twilight. Then she begins to realize the error of her ways, and while the Humane Six forgive her right away, not everyone else does, and Sunset Shimmer simply has to live with that. The sins of her past continue to haunt her, but she still finds the resolve to strive to be a better person and help other people who need it (Such as SciTwi).

I think her arc was a realistic portrayal of someone who had done something messed up and then realized later that her mistakes will cause people to see her differently. Despite that, and despite knowing that some people may never forgive her, however, Sunset wants to keep moving forward so that she can make amends and help people heal rather than hurt them. I liked the message behind this as well - That people should continue to try to do good things, even if your past mistakes can't be reversed. The past shouldn't hold you back for the rest of your life.

#my little pony friendship is magic #mlp #mlp fim #mlp g4 #pinkie pie #mental health #rainbow dash #twilight sparkle #fluttershy #mane 6 #equestria girls #flash sentry #anti timber spruce #sunset shimmer #internalized misogyny #<- in the case of rainbow dash at least #anti brony #gold's essays

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