My Little Pony XL: The Plot Thickens!

[Thanqol]

It's why most powerful creatures, so dangerous in a fantasy environment, don't really worry me. Dragons are hard, yes (though nowhere near as hard as Thanqol would have us believe), when you've only got a sword and a low-thuam spell to deal with it. When you've got a machine gun, or an anti-starfighter missile or a Lightning Bolt that is basically an anti-tank spell - not so much. Dragons have neither ECM, nor shields, nor any armour to speak of incomparison.

Dragons tend to change strategy to be effective on the galactic stage. The core of the dragon as a concept in my mind is incredible personal power. One on one, the dragon wins. Those few beings that can defeat a dragon single handed are to be feared and respected. Bring an army and bring the Black Arrow.

Now, that remains true even in a galactic environment but it's nowhere near as one sided as it was in medieval tech levels. A smart race of galactic dragons, such as the Drath, adapt to a galactic stage by seeking ways to apply and accentuate their personal might. The primary means for this quickly is revealed as diplomacy.

The Drath, as my go to example for this, have access to shapeshifting and magic even if their technology is a little backwards. They can shapeshift and infiltrate any organisation and apply incredible charisma and mind control magic. While you might scoff at a dragon's chances against your starfleet, the issue gets a bit muddier when three dragons shapeshift into combat forms in your bedroom. They infiltrate and integrate with other races, claiming leadership positions. They offer their services as mercenaries and hire mercenaries in response. And, like the undead, they can play the long game.

Each dragon is a nation unto himself, and a front line army of a hundred dragons is missing the point. A single dragon is an immortal shapeshifting genius. You send in one to take over a world. When you fight it, you don't fight it using the technology it came up with; you fight it using all the gold, treasure, arms and armour that it extracted as tribute from your race and many others.

The core theme of the dragon is unbreakable personal power. If a dragon fights an army it loses; that's how the story goes. A smart dragon looks for ways to apply that power on individuals.

It's also worth nothing that even in areas of mutable time, changes tend not to be very persistant - if you do change time, you can almost certainly garentee that some band of heroes or somesuch will come along and somehaow manage to change it back. And that big events (e.g. WW2) will tend to happen one way or another, in one form or another, even if you eliminate some of casual aspects (see: Red Alert 1). This phenominon is termed historical inertia.

Time is a lie!

[Aotrs Commander]

Dragons tend to change strategy to be effective on the galactic stage. The core of the dragon as a concept in my mind is incredible personal power. One on one, the dragon wins. Those few beings that can defeat a dragon single handed are to be feared and respected. Bring an army and bring the Black Arrow.

Now, that remains true even in a galactic environment but it's nowhere near as one sided as it was in medieval tech levels. A smart race of galactic dragons, such as the Drath, adapt to a galactic stage by seeking ways to apply and accentuate their personal might. The primary means for this quickly is revealed as diplomacy.

The Drath, as my go to example for this, have access to shapeshifting and magic even if their technology is a little backwards. They can shapeshift and infiltrate any organisation and apply incredible charisma and mind control magic. While you might scoff at a dragon's chances against your starfleet, the issue gets a bit muddier when three dragons shapeshift into combat forms in your bedroom. They infiltrate and integrate with other races, claiming leadership positions. They offer their services as mercenaries and hire mercenaries in response. And, like the undead, they can play the long game.

Each dragon is a nation unto himself, and a front line army of a hundred dragons is missing the point. A single dragon is an immortal shapeshifting genius. You send in one to take over a world. When you fight it, you don't fight it using the technology it came up with; you fight it using all the gold, treasure, arms and armour that it extracted as tribute from your race and many others.

The core theme of the dragon is unbreakable personal power. If a dragon fights an army it loses; that's how the story goes. A smart dragon looks for ways to apply that power on individuals.

But at that point they're no different than any other shapeshifting inflitrator... Or hell, come to that, our own illusion spells. You're then not talking about dragons, you're talking about inflitration technqiues available to loads of people. And shapeshifting or even illusions are no means of automatic nondetection with scanner technology around, not to mention telepaths... Moreover, in the wider galactic community, it's not like this sort of thing is unheard of, or that checks are in place for this exact sort of thing. As I say, technology is a great leveller. You can do it, certainly, but it isn't remotely as easy as it is in fantasy, where there are not nearly so many easily available counter-measures.

That and the fact there are aliens out there that you can't shapeshift into, because neither you, nor I, nor a dragon THINK like they do. You might - repeat - MIGHT get away with shapeshifting into something like, to use a Mass Effect example, an Elcor, and get away with the body being able to understand the completely different body langugae of the Elcor (you could fool anypony who wasn't an Elcor, but that sort of thing is really hard to do). But even if you shifted into the form a, I dunno, A Grey Watcher in the Mire, it's highly unlikly you wouldn't immediately be spotted, because their langauge is not only much more complicated, but works on visual, auditory AND telepathic levels. Shapeshifting spells don't change your mind - and those that do are among the most dangerous spells, because they run an extremely high risk of turning you mentally into what you shapeshift into permenantly.

And the emphasis on personal power makes it no different to me in that regard...

We actually do have dragons in the Aotrs, most famously Doomfire, the Firedrake. He spends most of his time either sleeping or assisting with the tech/timelocked worlds, right out of the way.



Perhaps the most "famous" example of a dragon in the active galactic community, (and I've just realised, ties both dragons and time-travel together, by complete co-incidence), is the Time Drake Timeshade (prior name unknown). (I say "famous" becuase he was actually quite well hidden unless you have any experienc with time-travel or have been arpond long enough, then it's quite easy to find out!) He founded and ruled the Brotherhood of the Grey Lizard, a time-travelling bunch of evil ninja monks, who aim to inflitrate the entire of history and do that "change" non-visual history thing I mentioned. Well, used to... Timeshade was killed as he was Fated (predestined) to do so (i.e. the verse of not being able to change the past, sometimes knowledge of the future locks you into that future; though this is much more a grey area and it's nearly impossible to tell when this is the case or not.) by a band of adventurers, and the Brotherhood now spend their time seeking revenge and trying to find out what to do next.

Fun fact - the Lich who trains our Kobold Commandos in a ex-Brotherhood Monk (I have mentioned this before, way back in September, but I don't expect anyone to remember!

Yes. I do go and google-check these things.)

[Thanqol]

But at that point they're no different than any other shapeshifting inflitrator... Or hell, come to that, our own illusion spells. You're then not talking about dragons, you're talking about inflitration technqiues available to loads of people. And shapeshifting or even illusions are no means of automatic nondetection with scanner technology around, not to mention telepaths... Moreover, in the wider galactic community, it's not like this sort of thing is unheard of, or that checks are in place for this exact sort of thing. As I say, technology is a great leveller. You can do it, certainly, but it isn't remotely as easy as it is in fantasy, where there are not nearly so many easily available counter-measures.

At this point you're no different to an army of evil robots.

That and the fact there are aliens out there that you can't shapeshift into, because neither you, nor I, nor a dragon THINK like they do. You might - repeat - MIGHT get away with shapeshifting into something like, to use a Mass Effect example, an Elcor, and get away with the body being able to understand the completely different body langugae of the Elcor (you could fool anypony who wasn't an Elcor, but that sort of thing is really hard to do). But even if you shifted into the form a, I dunno, A Grey Watcher in the Mire, it's highly unlikly you wouldn't immediately be spotted, because their langauge is not only much more complicated, but works on visual, auditory AND telepathic levels. Shapeshifting spells don't change your mind - and those that do are among the most dangerous spells, because they run an extremely high risk of turning you mentally into what you shapeshift into permenantly.

One of the most trivial, and one of the most effective tricks Mind magic can teach you is how to partition your mind. You can create a copy of your personality - or even multiple ones - and layer them inside your mind, hidden underneath your cover identity. You tie the spell to a Fate trigger, so when a predetermined condition is met - "When my betrayal could bring down their entire empire" - you suddenly return to your true personality and begin the process of betrayin'.

Of course you wouldn't alter your mind without making a backup, that would be imbecilic.

And the emphasis on personal power makes it no different to me in that regard...

You're kind of onto a good thing there. The key distinction with the Drath philosophy is that the personal power is something they're born with; it's a tool, a means to an end rather than an end itself.

We actually do have dragons in the Aotrs, most famously Doomfire, the Firedrake. He spends most of his time either sleeping or assisting with the tech/timelocked worlds, right out of the way.

You might have more than you know!

Perhaps the most "famous" example of a dragon in the active galactic community, (and I've just realised, ties both dragons and time-travel together, by complete co-incidence), is the Time Drake Timeshade

A good example for what I'm talking about. One individual setting up a powerful and complex network of time agents and ruling it from the shadows. Even if he's brought down, no one has declared war on 'all dragons everywhere', so no extermination war is brought to bear; the species survives and prospers in amidst others. Rulership and majesty; who cares what colour the map is if you own the cartographers?

[Aotrs Commander]

At this point you're no different to an army of evil robots.

You know what distinguishes the three or four top-tier powers? They are all robots.

(Though, granted, not all of them evil, and the Shardan are technically biological/technolgical hybrids.)

One of the most trivial, and one of the most effective tricks Mind magic can teach you is how to partition your mind. You can create a copy of your personality - or even multiple ones - and layer them inside your mind, hidden underneath your cover identity. You tie the spell to a Fate trigger, so when a predetermined condition is met - "When my betrayal could bring down their entire empire" - you suddenly return to your true personality and begin the process of betrayin'.

Of course you wouldn't alter your mind without making a backup, that would be imbecilic.

Oh, it's doable, but the thing is, that sort of thing works about exactly as long as it does in the Avengers of X-Men or something; at some point, someone will twig, or you'll run into somebody better.

The other thing is, the galactic powers fall into two broad categories - those who are democratically elected, and of whom no-one has much individual power (who may or may not spend a lot of time political infighting) or those ruled by a one or more very powerful individuals, in the "can kick my arse without breaking a sweat category" who are virtually impossible to fool - at that level, they are at Hero level, and all tht entails.

A good example for what I'm talking about. One individual setting up a powerful and complex network of time agents and ruling it from the shadows. Even if he's brought down, no one has declared war on 'all dragons everywhere', so no extermination war is brought to bear; the species survives and prospers in amidst others. Rulership and majesty; who cares what colour the map is if you own the cartographers?

Yes, he was, which is why I brought him up as support from your perspective, as soon as it came to me.

Though, from what we understand, Timeshade's draconic species once ruled his planet and then mysteriously and suddenly disappeared, and evidence points to them vanishing in the course of a few hours (as opposed to a planned exodus to infiltrate other races), and foul play is suspected. By whom... your guess is as good as mine.

Commander Sinclair once said "there are many mysteries in space. Consider this one them."

[Soras Teva Gee]

Not quite. The timelines exist constantly, true, but time moves forward at a fixed rate. If you travel back in time (into your own 'verse) and kill your grandfather, you - the you that created (or stole) the time machine and went back in time to kill his own grandfather - cease to exist. But the you that is already here, in the past, just finished preventing his own birth? Ontological inertia. Your physical body will not disappear just because it shouldn't logically exist. Whatever process brought you here has already ensured that you appear, essentially that point becomes the point of your birth, governed by local probabilities. That there is no event in a future timeline of this same universe that causes this event to happen has no effect on it. I'll elaborate in the next section.

Ontological Inertia demands that anything you do in the past leads exactly and directly to the future you came from initially.

In short no "changes" took place or can take place by the immutable fact that they didn't take place in the first place.

Otherwise temporal paradox: spontaneous generations of mass/energy/history, causality means nothing, violation of the concept of a rational mathematically comprehensible universe, etc.

tl;dr: You're fundamentally right, except no new worlds are "created", they are always there, and no "travel" happens in any shape or form, only manipulation of perceived probability and event synchronization across universes.

As I said this is more a philosophical difference here. You cannot change your past any more then you can alter the value of pi, but you can exchange your setting for a different one. While there are many personal gains possible (exploring different eras, possibilities, etc) I still have to consider this essentially a different issue as if one returned from a multiversal trek to one's original timeline before you left a stable time loop would still be in effect.

It's also worth nothing that even in areas of mutable time, changes tend not to be very persistant - if you do change time, you can almost certainly garentee that some band of heroes or somesuch will come along and somehaow manage to change it back. And that big events (e.g. WW2) will tend to happen one way or another, in one form or another, even if you eliminate some of casual aspects (see: Red Alert 1). This phenominon is termed historical inertia.

While certainly its very hard for any single action to make much of a difference in the flow of the world I think WWII is a bad example as there are several cases where I think one can see the personalities involved making particular and personal decisions that would have a radical effect. The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact being upheld (or never having been made) for example, or one of the numerous plots to kill Hitler succeeding allowing more competent leadership to take control, the Allies not standing firm on unconditional surrender, or America not taking such an aggressive course of action to rebuild Western Europe afterwards.

While certainly there are certain broader socio-economic forces that drive history and I'm no real proponent of the Great Man school of thought, there are certain places where single choices matter more and what is "inevitable" is less then often suggested. Certainly the forces and competitive politics in place at the dawn of the 20th Century do almost guarantee that somehow war would break out, but who was the aggressor and how does not become trivial.

Certain features were inevitable, almost certainly America would be a major power in all cases for example benefiting from high development combined with vast resources and unassailable geography. Even there though the decisions of the appropriately labelled Greatest Generation shape everything. We are not yet at the point where shocking small turns of fate in the early 20th century do not matter.

This all is somewhat besides the point of time travel though those events happened so its what happen, and its not time that needs to be mutable its everything else.

[Aotrs Commander]

While certainly its very hard for any single action to make much of a difference in the flow of the world I think WWII is a bad example as there are several cases where I think one can see the personalities involved making particular and personal decisions that would have a radical effect. The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact being upheld (or never having been made) for example, or one of the numerous plots to kill Hitler succeeding allowing more competent leadership to take control, the Allies not standing firm on unconditional surrender, or America not taking such an aggressive course of action to rebuild Western Europe afterwards.

While certainly there are certain broader socio-economic forces that drive history and I'm no real proponent of the Great Man school of thought, there are certain places where single choices matter more and what is "inevitable" is less then often suggested. Certainly the forces and competitive politics in place at the dawn of the 20th Century do almost guarantee that somehow war would break out, but who was the aggressor and how does not become trivial.

Certain features were inevitable, almost certainly America would be a major power in all cases for example benefiting from high development combined with vast resources and unassailable geography. Even there though the decisions of the appropriately labelled Greatest Generation shape everything. We are not yet at the point where shocking small turns of fate in the early 20th century do not matter.

This all is somewhat besides the point of time travel though those events happened so its what happen, and its not time that needs to be mutable its everything else.

What I meant was, if you could changed time and prevented World War II, there would be another war (probably of like scale).

(Which is what happened in Command & Conquer Red Alert; Einstein knobbled Hitler, so ended up causing a war between the Allies and Soviets instead a handful of years later than WW2 would have happened.)

Because we're talking about changing an event that actually did happen, not one that hasn't already happened and thus subject to the completely free of contraints future. Even if the event happened and was then later changed it DID still happen and was later changed. The fact that even if no-one remembers it (aside maybe from the history changer) does not make it ever unhave happened. It's like playing a game, doing something, not saving and then going back to an earlier save point and doing something different. Your earlier game still existed, even if you never saved it and went back and did something different; the game itself is not aware of this, but you are, and you also can't get back to that earlier game because it no longer exists (but that doesn't mean it never had existed).

(And there are enough entities out there immune to changes in the time-stream that you can even make the analogy that they are like the "player", even if they are not the ones controlling the "character" i.e the person that made the changes.)

Time travel is really complicated...

[Trixie]

<sigh> Anyone would have any nice pony pics, by any chance? I don't mind duplicates, just a few nice especially Trixie images would do ^^"

TL/DR - had kind of very hard week, didn't even have time nor energy to watch previous MLP episode :(

[Eakin]

Image bomb away!

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[thubby]

oldy, but let there be diabetus

[Beacon of Chaos]

I accepted Bobcat's request in advance, I can take yours now too.

Lyra & Bon Bon riding a tandem bicycle please ^^

Me from some years ago was a miserable tosser but he does have the advantage of having conditioned himself to do whatever his future self tells him to do.

*note to self: disguise as older Thanqol; tell him to do ridiculous things; record."


Awesome picture:

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[Soras Teva Gee]

What I meant was, if you could changed time and prevented World War II, there would be another war (probably of like scale).

(Which is what happened in Command & Conquer Red Alert; Einstein knobbled Hitler, so ended up causing a war between the Allies and Soviets instead a handful of years later than WW2 would have happened.)

I know how Red Alert got going I'm not sure I agree with its premise though. The USSR is not post-war Germany. And so help me I haven't played it in this century but how did the original Red Alert handle Japan. I swear I remember them ignoring it but then I can't remember if I even finished Red Alert.

Anyways this is a key area to see how this falls apart. Japan was already well on its entirely separate road to conflict by the time Adolf took power. Its purely Hollywood history to think that America was more then just a player in Western Europe, however it fought an essentially separate war at the same time with Japan. If Hitler wasn't around to be in loose alliance with Japan and declare war on America after Pearl Harbor for example... would we even be in the Allies? That's a question there's no good answer to in my book.

A separate Pacific War while Nazi Germany was annihilated by Soviet Russia is distressingly close to accurate description given of WWII.

Because we're talking about changing an event that actually did happen, not one that hasn't already happened and thus subject to the completely free of contraints future. Even if the event happened and was then later changed it DID still happen and was later changed. The fact that even if no-one remembers it (aside maybe from the history changer) does not make it ever unhave happened. It's like playing a game, doing something, not saving and then going back to an earlier save point and doing something different. Your earlier game still existed, even if you never saved it and went back and did something different; the game itself is not aware of this, but you are, and you also can't get back to that earlier game because it no longer exists (but that doesn't mean it never had existed).

(And there are enough entities out there immune to changes in the time-stream that you can even make the analogy that they are like the "player", even if they are not the ones controlling the "character" i.e the person that made the changes.)

Time travel is really complicated...

Not really because you keep placing too much importance on the idea of "change" when this idea has absolutely no basis for existence at any level. Changing the timeline is an illusionary concept, it can't happen because it never happened in the first place, everything you do in your past you already did there's simply no escape.

Once you accept this time travel becomes exceptionally simple.

Anything else is no more rationally valid then a having 1+2= 5 or the area of a triangle given by the equation pi*r². Sure you can suppose it but if you actually try and think about it you realize that it is utterly incomprehensible.

[OracleofWuffing]

Just you wait, a few more hours and all this time-travelling world-war superarmy stuff will get drowned out by ponies. And for once, I will be able to watch the show as it airs. Squee!

[erikun]

Well there is probably nothing new here, but have ponyimages: mane six edition. (plus Twilight)

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[Forum Explorer]

About Dragons; they can be a threat at any tech level because they are more then capable of using whatever technology comes to hand. However there is almost never a nation of dragons. (Exceptions do exist) Or rather the dragons only make up a small percentage of the population. Dragons like minions and the smart ones will form nations around themselves.

So sure you can easily defeat a dragon with an army at a high tech level, but very few dragons will be dumb and arrogant enough to try and take on an army by themselves, and would rather use their own army in response.

However there are some dragons who can cause volcanos with a word and are nearly the size of a mountain. Those require something a little more orbital to defeat.

Anyways at a high point a draconic run organization is a lot like AORTS with commanders (dragons) who are highly intelligent and wield lots of personal power while an army of minions is what is most often encountered.

And yes of course there are the dumb dragons who are either too lazy or stupid to do anything but bully peasants and sleep on their hoards and inevitably end up killed by a band of heroes or an army. That's social Darwinism at work right there.

[thubby]

new episode:

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good story, plenty of laughs.
more than a few instances of really awkward animation, though.

rd has touching issues, and no known family. she MUST have been abused as a filly [/epileptic trees]

[otakuryoga]

1st thoughts on new episode

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Featherweight

O Gawd...not HER...........is that a new voice for her?

Fez on ponies! next meme!

Oh, come on! even baby birds are making fun of Scootaloo

sigh... 1st break and the spoiler spam begins again--was that a griffon chef?

Horn Donk!

AJ at the spa? AND RD? is the world ending?

no..mayor...say it aint so--waaay better grey than pink

and thats the 1st step Pinkie

DT is really tryin to surpass Blueblood as most hated pony

so how are ponies supposed to get books Twilight?

Role Reversal

[OracleofWuffing]

New episode is the worst episode I've ever seen. I can't believe I'd be so personally offended by ponies.

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Did you see how they were operating that press!? Look at all that ink they're wasting! Not to mention violation of health and safety standards! No labels, no organization, no safety sheets- NO SHOP TOWELS. That is not how you operate a printing press!

For those of you not reading spoilers, I am making an extended joke by overdramatizing a five-second clip, and actually quite enjoyed the episode.

[Deadly]

New Episode, initial thoughts

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Stream actually worked very nicely today, I'm happy to report. I hope it stays like that for the rest of the season, I didn't notice a single glitch.

Is it me or is Diamond Tiara's voice a little different?

Scoots flying? Well, at least her hind-quarters flying. That's an improvement.

The Great and Powerful Trixie!!!! Secrets? OMG! I must know! Did I really hear this or am I dreaming?

Celestia likes to have her cake and eat it too.

Smartypants!!

So many callback! So much... juicy... mmm, gossip... *drools*

Oooh, more Big Mac talking.

Seemed like a nice episode, but the mane 6's total rejection of the three seemed quite excessive. Up until then it I enjoyed the episode, but that part just sorta seemed wrong.

Also felt that DT's vowing of revenge was a little weak, since she never got the chance. I guess they ran out of time. Nice to see DT covered in ink, though.

[Anarion]

New episode thoughts. I'll come back and catch up on the rest of the thread tonight. Looks like we've got a fair few mini-essays running around and multiple SiuS quote posts.

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First thought. Uh, doesn't Diamond Tiara still have those pictures? She can't get them in the paper, but she could still show them around the school if she wanted.

Second thought: Scootaloo really is a pathetic flyer. That's really sad. I feel bad for her now. The other two for Applebloom and Sweetie Belle really weren't that embarrassing.

Overall, I really liked this episode, possibly even enough to say it was the best CMC episode (unless you count cutie mark chronicles as a CMC episode). The setup was good, the stories were great (The Great and Powerful Trixie and Trollestia!) and the apology letter came across as really heartfelt. Just a solid and heartwarming story all around with a good lesson about thinking about the feelings of others and not gossiping.

Oh, and apparently it's a very poor idea to make Rainbow Dash mad at you. Having your own personal rainstorm all the time does not sound fun.

[erikun]

Season 2 episode 23 "Ponyville Confidential": The episode that ruined fanon.

[thubby]

New episode thoughts. I'll come back and catch up on the rest of the thread tonight. Looks like we've got a fair few mini-essays running around and multiple SiuS quote posts.

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First thought. Uh, doesn't Diamond Tiara still have those pictures? She can't get them in the paper, but she could still show them around the school if she wanted.

Second thought: Scootaloo really is a pathetic flyer. That's really sad. I feel bad for her now. The other two for Applebloom and Sweetie Belle really weren't that embarrassing.

Overall, I really liked this episode, possibly even enough to say it was the best CMC episode (unless you count cutie mark chronicles as a CMC episode). The setup was good, the stories were great (The Great and Powerful Trixie and Trollestia!) and the apology letter came across as really heartfelt. Just a solid and heartwarming story all around with a good lesson about thinking about the feelings of others and not gossiping.

Oh, and apparently it's a very poor idea to make Rainbow Dash mad at you. Having your own personal rainstorm all the time does not sound fun.

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what was in those photos? the stream i was watching froze up for a second and i missed that

[erikun]

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what was in those photos? the stream i was watching froze up for a second and i missed that

S2e23 spoilers

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It was their failed attempts at first stories: Scootaloo trying to fly in a mudpuddle, Sweetie Belle in that silly dress, and Applebloom with her baby picture talking to Granny Smith.

[Gamerlord]

Episode thoughts:

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That was.... surprisingly un-bad, M.A. Larson continues to be best writer. I see Diamond Tiara went to the J. Jonah Jameson School of Journalism. Probably my favorite of all the CMC episodes, though given that there are only two other CMC episodes I consider above mediocre, I guess that isn't a particularly impressive feat. Also, hooray, Trixie reference!

[PhantomFox]

Ponyville Confidential:

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Very solid episode. I was apprehensive about this, but M. A. Larson puts another feather in his cap. The CMC don't like writing these kinds of columns, and want to stop, but are prevented by Diamond Tiara (who gets hers in the end, thankfully). Thus, they aren't behaving like idiots or insensitive jerks. There's also a large dash of the Mane 6 to balance things out. I like how they all react to the columns and shun the CMC when they go too far.

And SO MANY CALLBACKS! There's just too much to list right now.

[Pokonic]

Eh, I'm very much in the Ponder Stibbons school of thought on this. Use the best and most efficient tool for the job. A lot of these elder entities want to cling to tradition because they can't get it around their heads that the universe has moved on, and that their static level of power is now exceeded, and refuse to see that you can't keep things they way they always were forever.

It's why most powerful creatures, so dangerous in a fantasy environment, don't really worry me. Dragons are hard, yes (though nowhere near as hard as Thanqol would have us believe), when you've only got a sword and a low-thuam spell to deal with it. When you've got a machine gun, or an anti-starfighter missile or a Lightning Bolt that is basically an anti-tank spell - not so much. Dragons have neither ECM, nor shields, nor any armour to speak of incomparison. It's why I don't have any fear of say Cthulu, who's preported power mainly comes from the game mythos (where they had to make him uber, because if you didn't players like me would have found a way to kill him) - but in the end, he got taken down by a steamship, and that wouldn't even take down ME. (Not too mention that, his main thing was his madness aura - and even considering that didn't affect everyone, I'm immune to it anyway.) Cthulu is all about the hopelessness of man verses monstrous creatures who can crush them like a bug - it changes your perspective a bit when you ARE one of those monstrous creatures...

But I digress.

Our magic is advanced as our technology. Our Lightning Bolt (which is a point attack spell, rather than D&D's area effect spell) is more advanced, robust and much more efficient in terms of mana to damage output than the it's early predessors.

And that's why shouldn't put too much faith in elder creatures, because you can probably manage with technology (or magic and technology if you know the right people, and the Aotrs are always prepared to do you a dirty deal) pretty much anything they could give you.

Ah, but the power is not so much in there shear age, but in what they know. Even the weakest among them can preform things that would make the eldest necromancers head spin. Lets put it this way: lets say that the most powerful undead and necromancers and such are whales, and the very weakest among Her favorite servents are tiny, tiny fish. In this case, the ocean is a great vat of negative energy. And they are the natives.

A whale can spend hours under the sea, and can go to the deepest reaches of it. Yet, no matter how far it goes down, there are still more creatures to be seen. No matter how far one goes into the ocean, from a normal human diving to ones protected with the greatest of protective gear, there is more to see, more to learn. "Whales" are simply those lucky few who are in a state of undeath, and even they must come up before there minds are obliterated. Normal humans simply have no idea how far the Shadow goes without proper protection, and even they have issues with the implications of what they see.

Yet, the weakest among the fish? You can find them everywhere. And I assure you, what they know is amazing. Every time one conjures them up, new methods for shaping the Shadow-stuff that is the staple of the darker mages in the world comes into light. Why, if you must know, the very reason I can send my essance to other bodies was a tidbit of information from a casual talk with one such nameless shadow-thing. I personaly never realy like summoning them, either, but the main thing is that no matter the cost, the cult gets new toys to play with.

[Soras Teva Gee]

So easily the best CMC episode* and a top tier for the season as whole. That's what three in row?

*CMChronicles doesn't count they are just a framing device there.

[MCerberus]

episode:

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Wait wait wait a second. It's not even the theme song and Rarity tricked 2 of the crusaders into child labor?

and updated as I watch:

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grey chubby pony is new best background pony
That's Rarity's dress from Sweet & Elite
Birds laughing at Scoots :(
Bring me pictures! PICTURE OF SPIDERMARE!
Rarity confirmed evil alignment (invade privacy, only interested in the misery of others)
This is the most wonderful schitzo-tech in the show so far. Old-time printing presses and modern cameras.
I'LL DESTROY HER
Featherweight is best minion
Applejack + Big Mac dialog reversal
They could have easily done the reverse blackmail on Tiara with an expose.

[Beacon of Chaos]

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"I WANT PICTURES! PICTURES OF SPIDERPONY!"

Seriously, best episode ever. Was grinning the whole way through!

Diamond Tiara in full antagonist mode, all kinds of continuity nods, plenty of gags.

Big Mac and AJ line swaps was great, and Big Mac with Smarty Pants too XD

"I'LL DESTROY HER!" 'nuff said.

Trixie shout out! I'm surprisingly okay with this!

Celestia is just like us! She eats cake! Stop the friggin' presses!

I'm looking forward to all the fanart of mayor mare with pink hair.

Poor Scootaloo really can't fly, can she? :(

I'm sure there's more to comment on but wow, what a great episode!

Oh! and also, the teaser for the next episode...

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...looks so good! I think I'm actually going to break my no spoilers rule from now on. Perhaps not for the sneak previews, but those little teasers and the synopsies haven't actually diminished my enjoyment. Instead, I'm really excited for the next episode!

Who done dunned it, indeed?

[MCerberus]

Is it just me or is season2!Rarity much more entertaining than the season 1 version, Dog & Pony Show aside?

edit- and episode

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[Sean Mirrsen]

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O-hum. Well... I'm not going to say it was "the best episode ever" or "best episode this season", but... really, at the very least it was the most well-rounded and solid episode focusing on the CMC in this whole show (Cutie Mark Chronicles discounted, because it was about the others' cutie marks, not the CMCs'). Continuity abound, solid humor, and very few nitpicks (most prominently newspapers held with hooves, but tactile telekinesis has long been a fanon staple, and works very well with newspapers). Pinkie Pie seemingly reading a newspaper underwater was ridiculous, but so very in-character. AJ and Big Mac line reversal was brilliant. Twilight having canon forcefields more or less fills me with joy, or at least a joy-equivalent. Lack of over-the-top idiocy definitely earned the episode a pile of extra points. If I had a tier ranking system, this one would be First Tier, skirting the border to Top Tier.

Keep 'em coming, Studio B! That's four good to great episodes in a row, you've got one more and the two-part finale left, don't let up!

I'd say Season 2 Rarity is more... expressive than Season 1 Rarity, which allows more of her character to show through. I need to refresh my memory of Season 1 though. I can't believe I found time to rewatch JLU, but not time to rewatch the first season of FiM. (Speaking of, there is already a My Little Avengers fic... where's the Justice League of Equestria?)