My Little Pony XCIX: Leakier Than A Changeling Bathtub!

[DigoDragon]

Thank you! I had wondered what happened to my avatar. Now it's on a new host.

Maybe it's the NyQuil talking, but this reads like your avatar is parasitic.

Sorry about being late but I agree with you on this.

Spoiler: What Lies Beneath.

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My favorite being Smolder's tea party.

Spoiler: What Lies Beneath

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Here you go, best princess:

[zimmerwald1915]

Spoiler: What Lies Beneath

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Here you go, best princess:

Bronies today. Completely lacking in fidelity, and inevitably drawn to the newest shiny object like changelings to magical blue fire.

[t209]

Spoiler: What Lies beneath

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I always knew there was something wrong with letting a Filly into a school that is CLEARLY a highschool if nothing else.

Spoiler: What Lies Beneath

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Then again.
Hiring teachers who already had jobs and lack any teaching credentials.
Appointing three underage children as school professors.
I think that would be the least egregious issue.

[Draconi Redfir]

Spoiler: What Lies Beneath

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Then again.
Hiring teachers who already had jobs and lack any teaching credentials.
Appointing three underage children as school professors.
I think that would be the least egregious issue.

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Naahh. all that is fine if they just manage their time. and the crusaders are probably more assistants then much else.

Cozy Glow is just evil. I suspect either Chrysalis in disguise, or an agent of Chancellor Neighsay. Either one looking to use the Tree as a weapon of some sort probably.

[Douglas]

Spoiler: What Lies Beneath

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Then again.
Hiring teachers who already had jobs and lack any teaching credentials.
Appointing three underage children as school professors.
I think that would be the least egregious issue.

The CMCs are tutors, not professors.

[Rater202]

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Naahh. all that is fine if they just manage their time. and the crusaders are probably more assistants then much else.

Cozy Glow is just evil. I suspect either Chrysalis in disguise, or an agent of Chancellor Neighsay. Either one looking to use the Tree as a weapon of some sort probably.

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As I mentioned before, according to the Pony Wiki, Cozy Glow is based to some degree on Baby Doll from Batman the Animated Series.

The woman with a genetic condition that stopped her from physically maturing ever as her mind continued to develop, leaving her looking to be five even as she rapidly aproches middle age, who eventually snapped from the stress of living like that, among other things.

so she is most definitely not what as she seems.

[t209]

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As I mentioned before, according to the Pony Wiki, Cozy Glow is based to some degree on Baby Doll from Batman the Animated Series.

The woman with a genetic condition that stopped her from physically maturing ever as her mind continued to develop, leaving her looking to be five even as she rapidly aproches middle age, who eventually snapped from the stress of living like that, among other things.

so she is most definitely not what as she seems.

Spoiler: Response

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Yeah I remember that episode.

[Topaz]

Maybe it's the NyQuil talking, but this reads like your avatar is parasitic.

Spoiler: Hey, symbiotic if you please!

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[b_jonas]

So, I re-read G. Szabó Magda's first successful book, which is perhaps also the darkest (and I mean deeply, not on the surface, because two of the later ones have attempted murders in them), A macskát visszafelé simogatják. This book and the other older ones are such that their mood remains with me for a long time but I forget the story details immediately, which I think is a good thing in a book. So this must have been the first time I've re-read this one after 2014, or else I'd have noticed this little detail before. There's a schoolgirl character in that book who alienates her classmates from each other by telling lies about them behind their back. Just like Sunset Shimmer had done before Equestria Girls 1. (I didn't forget the story of EG1.) The two characters are not otherwise very similar, it's just that they were insecure deep inside and these lies were the only idea they had for how to relate to her classmates. And obviously, by the end of the book, after not much more than the one year with her shinanigans, her classmates catch on to her lies, and the viewpoint character Judit graciously forgives her. And I'm not even sure if I like that part of the book, it seems like sort of a superfluous and shallow plot device, but I could be wrong. Update: and now I'm re-reading Jacqueline Wilson's book Double act (in translation, sadly), because it's slightly similar to A macskát visszafelé simogatják.

[Aotrs Commander]

Spoiler: Pony Comic #66-68

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#66: Eeh. Predicable and not too enthralling.

#67-68: Surprisngly effective. Not especially funny (except for the cover of #68), but #68 in particular did really rather well with Tempest, I though.

Spoiler: Dazzling ships

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[Rater202]

So, Bleakbane, why do all of the ship in this fleet look like old-timey keys?

[Aotrs Commander]

So, Bleakbane, why do all of the ship in this fleet look like old-timey keys?

Coincidence.

Spoiler: Xyriat

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Xygritt Matriarchy technology is derivied from the Xyriat Hegemony, and many of the same principles apply – even the passing similarity of the hull shapes. Like the Xyriats, the Xygritt vessels have a deflector emitter at the front of the ship, serving as shield broadcast hub and GVD focussing lens.

The “blade” at the front is instead the Xygritt’s primary thermal solution to the waste heat generated by elenthnar technology. A solution somewhere between the Xyriat’s ventral thermal exhaust and the radiator blocks as used by the Wodefs or Phystyulons, these structures are principally radiators used to sink off the excess heat.

While the central bulb might at first seem to be similar to the Xyriat’s ventral thermal exhaust section, it is instead the mounting point for the partical beam arrays which serve as the Xygritt navy’s primary point-defense system.

[DigoDragon]

[Dazzling ships]

Slightly disappointed this wasn't what I thought it would be. XD

Spoiler: Ep. 23: Sound of Silence

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So not a bad episode overall. Felt a bit short though. We got Flutters and AJ on a little adventure to a new place to meet the Kirin, which are cute lion-y ponies with horns capable of Ponykinesis, but not magic spells. Fair enough and the main Kirin (Autumn Blaze is it?) is a pretty adorable chatterbox. I like how she excused herself to catch fire behind a rock. Pfft, that's comedy.

Why is it all the leaders of these tribes are the tallest ones? It's like, proving that the Irkin had a point.

[Pi Pie]

Spoiler: S8E23 Sound of Silence

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Thoughts as I go
• The writers seem to be giving fire to the shipping wars this season.
• “Flanks don’t lie” what an interesting saying.
• The end of the railroad line. That means that they will have a new route built all the way to the Peaks of Peril in time for the next season, about 3 months.
• Applejack, what have we learned about letting Fluttershy finish speaking?
• Yay for assertive Fluttershy making an appearance.
• I like the Kirin design.
• “Ponish”, so we officially have the language of the ponies.
• Applejack is just like so many American tourists. That is why we get such a bad reputation around the world.
• For creatures that have not been visited by ponies for a thousand years (at least recorded) and that don’t speak, the Kirin seem fairly calm about meeting ponies. Also, their understanding of Ponish is impressive. We know that Ponish changed over 1,000 years since Luna had a hard time fitting in.
• So they took a vow of silence because someone used words to hurt another. The Kirin sound like a village of Starlight Glimmers.
• Overall B- They tried to push the lesson about anger a little hard which detracted from the experience. The story was also railroaded to the conclusion. And while I like the Kirin model and some of their magic powers, they were not critical to the story. This could have been just as applicable to a lost tribe of ponies.
• And for those that complain about pony imperialism, this is another time that they brought friendship and harmony to the poor ignorant creatures outside of Equestria in the name of their god, the Tree of Harmony. And that is a good thing since the creatures liked the changes.

Slightly disappointed this wasn't what I thought it would be. XD

Spoiler: Ep. 23: Sound of Silence

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So not a bad episode overall. Felt a bit short though. We got Flutters and AJ on a little adventure to a new place to meet the Kirin, which are cute lion-y ponies with horns capable of Ponykinesis, but not magic spells. Fair enough and the main Kirin (Autumn Blaze is it?) is a pretty adorable chatterbox. I like how she excused herself to catch fire behind a rock. Pfft, that's comedy.

Why is it all the leaders of these tribes are the tallest ones? It's like, proving that the Irkin had a point.

The tallest are the best. See https://www.fimfiction.net/story/410...vs-invader-zim which may be the world's shortest pony fanfic. Also, language NSFW.

[DigoDragon]

Spoiler: S8E23 Sound of Silence

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Thoughts as I go
• The writers seem to be giving fire to the shipping wars this season.
• “Flanks don’t lie” what an interesting saying.
• The end of the railroad line. That means that they will have a new route built all the way to the Peaks of Peril in time for the next season, about 3 months.
• Applejack, what have we learned about letting Fluttershy finish speaking?
• Yay for assertive Fluttershy making an appearance.
• I like the Kirin design.
• “Ponish”, so we officially have the language of the ponies.
• Applejack is just like so many American tourists. That is why we get such a bad reputation around the world.
• For creatures that have not been visited by ponies for a thousand years (at least recorded) and that don’t speak, the Kirin seem fairly calm about meeting ponies. Also, their understanding of Ponish is impressive. We know that Ponish changed over 1,000 years since Luna had a hard time fitting in.
• So they took a vow of silence because someone used words to hurt another. The Kirin sound like a village of Starlight Glimmers.
• Overall B- They tried to push the lesson about anger a little hard which detracted from the experience. The story was also railroaded to the conclusion. And while I like the Kirin model and some of their magic powers, they were not critical to the story. This could have been just as applicable to a lost tribe of ponies.
• And for those that complain about pony imperialism, this is another time that they brought friendship and harmony to the poor ignorant creatures outside of Equestria in the name of their god, the Tree of Harmony. And that is a good thing since the creatures liked the changes.

Spoiler: Ep 23, Sound of Silence

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I wonder who that old railroad ticket salespony was... poor dude gone crazy living alone.

I feel like "Ponish" was mentioned before, but if not, then yeah, official language by now. Which seems to parallel English across the magic mirror. My headcanon theory is that Celestia first used the mirror centuries ago and stole human ideas to advance the ponies in tech and knowledge. Which explains the human-centric designs of so many things (I mean, sure the easy answer is because humans made the cartoon, but that's not as interesting).

Back on Ponish language, I wonder if Fluttershy can teach other to speak squirrel? Cause I was relly expecting AJ to look at that squirrel at the end and suddenly realize what they were saying by listening to them. Ah well, missed opportunity.

The tallest are the best. See https://www.fimfiction.net/story/410...vs-invader-zim which may be the world's shortest pony fanfic. Also, language NSFW.

Succulent!

[Aotrs Commander]

Guh. The pony episode equence this year is just bonkers.

Still catchin' up...

Spoiler: s8e21

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So, Rockhoof is a combination of Hulk, MCU!Thor and the Shoveller...

Interesting.

Pretty predicatable un til the point he wanted to be turned to stone, which has all kinds of interesting connotations (and was probably behind all the videos I saw talking about the meaning of the episode I spotted while trying to track it down (since EqD didn't have a working link today (settled for one subtitled in Russian, oddly enough)...)

This is sort of really what you'd expect from trying to address a thousand-year gap period, and even then, Rockhoof is still doing vastly far better than should be expected, considering. (I mean, the language didn't even drift much - I shudder to think the amount of effort Celestia must have personally undertaken to keep it in stasis for a millenium. I dunno about you lot but I'd struggle to talk to someone in 1018. Middle-English is hard enough, and we're looking at OLD English at that time-period...)

Why did it not occur to anyone to see if Rockhoof would be of use to the Yaks? I mean, Yona took a huge shine to him, and Yaks do love smashing stuff...?


I loved that little exhangce between Spike and Twilight.

"Can you do that?"

"Eehh..."

Twilight finally using all that royall decree stuff...

[Forum Explorer]

The tallest are the best. See https://www.fimfiction.net/story/410...vs-invader-zim which may be the world's shortest pony fanfic. Also, language NSFW.

Those things are hilarious. I love the Celestia vs Vampires one.

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"Good morning, gentlemen."

[Aotrs Commander]

Those things are hilarious. I love the Celestia vs Vampires one.

I love that one so, so, sooo much.

[Douglas]

I love that one so, so, sooo much.

"But it's midnight."
*the sun rises*
"Not anymore."

[Thanqol]

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S823 is carried on the back of unbelievably good voice acting, precision comedy and a rockin' musical number. Absolute smash hit, loved it to bits, Autumn Blaze is best pone/waifu of the week, she should get her own spinoff series, etc, etc.

[t209]

Spoiler

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S823 is carried on the back of unbelievably good voice acting, precision comedy and a rockin' musical number. Absolute smash hit, loved it to bits, Autumn Blaze is best pone/waifu of the week, she should get her own spinoff series, etc, etc.

Spoiler: Season 8 Episode 23

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I kinda agree.
Also first Applejack to get a focus after many seasons, though not sure Honesty is kind of difficult elements to portray as usual *cough* First episode *cough*.

[Adderbane]

Spoiler: On the Road to Friendship

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Loved this episode; Starlight and Trixie becoming friends was one of the best ideas the writers have had. Fun song, funny antics, and a nice lesson.

[DigoDragon]

Spoiler: s8e21

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Why did it not occur to anyone to see if Rockhoof would be of use to the Yaks? I mean, Yona took a huge shine to him, and Yaks do love smashing stuff...?

"Can you do that?"
"Eehh..."

Spoiler: Ep 21 Rockhoof & Hard Place

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I thought about that myself, but they do have a bunch of traditions Rockhoof might not get. Plus, perpetually frozen north so...

Those things are hilarious. I love the Celestia vs Vampires one.

That's the best one. :D

Spoiler

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S823 is carried on the back of unbelievably good voice acting, precision comedy and a rockin' musical number. Absolute smash hit, loved it to bits, Autumn Blaze is best pone/waifu of the week, she should get her own spinoff series, etc, etc.

Spoiler: Ep 23 Sound of Silence

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She was one of the attack critters in a lab my local rp group tackled in a Shadowrun adventure. The party managed to befriend her with food and she's now following them around. Has a fear of water for reasons. ;)

The fun part is no one knows where I got the idea from.

Spoiler: On the Road to Friendship

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Loved this episode; Starlight and Trixie becoming friends was one of the best ideas the writers have had. Fun song, funny antics, and a nice lesson.

Spoiler: Road to Friendship

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Yes, I think Trixie and Starlight have a really good chemistry going. And the episode is just a fun little road trip adventure which the show needs more of.

[Draconi Redfir]

Spoiler: sound of silence

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anyone else feel the resolution was kinda rushed? Feels like we only JUST dipped our toe into the "We have a problem" pool before all of a sudden everything was fine and dandy. wouldn't have minded some less time on songs, and more time on conflict.

and Celestia has a new tall-leader wife. also new creature for the freindship school?

[Manga Shoggoth]

[QUOTE=Pi Pie;23338737]

Spoiler: S8E23 Sound of Silence

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• “Ponish”, so we officially have the language of the ponies.
...
• For creatures that have not been visited by ponies for a thousand years (at least recorded) and that don’t speak, the Kirin seem fairly calm about meeting ponies. Also, their understanding of Ponish is impressive. We know that Ponish changed over 1,000 years since Luna had a hard time fitting in.

Spoiler: Ep 23, Sound of Silence

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I feel like "Ponish" was mentioned before, but if not, then yeah, official language by now. Which seems to parallel English across the magic mirror. My headcanon theory is that Celestia first used the mirror centuries ago and stole human ideas to advance the ponies in tech and knowledge. Which explains the human-centric designs of so many things (I mean, sure the easy answer is because humans made the cartoon, but that's not as interesting).

Back on Ponish language, I wonder if Fluttershy can teach other to speak squirrel? Cause I was relly expecting AJ to look at that squirrel at the end and suddenly realize what they were saying by listening to them. Ah well, missed opportunity.

"Old Ponish" was mentioned in Shadow Play, basically the equivalent of "Old English" (using futhark (precursor to early Anglo-Saxon futhorc) runes, no less! - there's a thorny pun for you). I'd have preferred "Old Equine" myself, but hey - it's not like the kids these days would understand terms like "Equestrian".

[DigoDragon]

Spoiler: sound of silence

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anyone else feel the resolution was kinda rushed? Feels like we only JUST dipped our toe into the "We have a problem" pool before all of a sudden everything was fine and dandy. wouldn't have minded some less time on songs, and more time on conflict.

and Celestia has a new tall-leader wife. also new creature for the freindship school?

Spoiler: Sound of Silence episode

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Yeah, I mentioned that the episode felt short. I can see kirins going to that school too. And getting detention for talking during class.

"Old Ponish" was mentioned in Shadow Play, basically the equivalent of "Old English" (using futhark (precursor to early Anglo-Saxon futhorc) runes, no less! - there's a thorny pun for you). I'd have preferred "Old Equine" myself, but hey - it's not like the kids these days would understand terms like "Equestrian".

Kids know more than they're given credit for. Especially if they live in a state like mine where horse ranches are still a thing (but if you show them a hockey stick they often guess golf first).

[Aotrs Commander]

Spoiler: s8e22

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Okay, so maybe I was only noticing now, but Cosy Glow is in the class withnthe others. so there IS no younger filles class, which means - as I suspected - she's not young, she's just short.

Aaaand she's splitting the new six up with racism.

TRANSPARENTLY being Evil.

To paraphrase TFS!Cooler, someone answer that phone because

I fracking called it.

I really don't know why the age thing didn't come up, since they are very clearly still in school, the students and friendship university are CLEARLY all quite a bit older than them (until Cosey Glow, also if that's her name why does she have a chess cutie mark, what's the connection?) I'd, in fact, at this point just guess Cosey Glow is just, y'know, short.

Which I'm saying and now that the chesspiece cutiemark would totally make sense for her being an undercover villain and oh my Lichemaster...

If I'm right (and, no, don't tell me, we'll get to it in time)... If I'm right, I am going to be SO SMUG.

*SMUG*

And now a clearly obviously not-Twilight.

That's going to be a manifestation of the Tree, isn't it? And if there is no FANTASTIC explanation why it has never done this ever before, relying inside of being an uncommunicative asshat, I will further stand by being entirely right that the Tree and the Table is a [Richard].

...

Okay, no I don't even need for that, literally ten seconds after I unpaused the episode (yeah, I'm actually writing this DURING the episode today, since so much is just spilling out that I want to say) Magic Tree Manifestation FLIPS ITS [EXCREMENT] over someone saying "friendship is not in our nature" and immediately threatens them with being trapped if they don't pass its test. After its takes it inspiration for doing a test, so frack knows what it was going to do BEFORE that.

Magic Tree is a [Richard] confirmed.

Ye GODS, this episode is making me so frag-damn smug.

*magic tree manifestation teleports everycreature*

...

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!!

Oh my Lichemaster!

That...

I just...

Making them face their worst fears!?

Y'know, like Sombra's magic door did with dakr magic?

AAAAAH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Confirmed!

Confirmed. SO. UTTERLY. HARD!

Ahahahahahahah!

Good job Mona and Gallus (I keep wanting to call him Grallus, because that's one of the current PCS in Shackled City, so if I slip up you know why) are only afraid and don't have actual proper phobias, innit? Because wow, that couldn't have gone tragically wrong.

And Silverstream has a bit of PST regarding the Storm King and Ocellus does regarding the Changeling's previous history...

Sandbar... I'mma go ahead and wonder if there isn't a degree of those two in particular being chosen because one might wonder if there might be some element "crush on teacher" territory there (seems like they would be good candidates), as well as leveraging the loyalty and generousity elements. Trapping him via his own affablitiy and eagerness to help was interesting, though.

Smolder really got away lightly, which suggests she's actually the most balanced of them, astonishingly.

And tree is suddenly on NOW, conveniantly, after living for a thousand plus and however long before years, only NOW, magically gets the ability to directly communicate.

Allow me to laugh derivisively.

Suuuuuure. I completely believe that,

"Since when does the tree of Harmony traps creatures ina cave with their biggest fears?"

I know, right, Gallus?

And go you, for calling it out!



And there goes Cosy, manipulating them into not telling Twilight.

So much the villain.

And that last line isn't even said ominously, even though it very much is!

Ha!

I'll give 'em credit. Given that you can't be toooo subtle with a children's show, they are going a fairly credible job. The chess-piece cutie mark is a stroke of subtle genius, I'll give 'em that.



Well, clearly I liked this episode, because I like being proved oh so VERY right. One of the better ones, this season, even.

And - FINALLY - I am starting to warm to the new characters a bit, funnily enough when we start to see them as more than just a gestalt character but as individuals, with their own not-inconsiderable neuroses.

Back (a fair distance) through thread...

Spoiler: S8E22 What Lies Beneath

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It looks like the Mane 6 need to apologize to Starlight Glimmer. The avatar of Harmony Itself demonstrates that locking creatures up and mentally torturing them until they behave how you want them to is in fact a-okay.

Spoiler: s8e22

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Ahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

I know, right!

Spoiler

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Cozy Glow is just evil. I suspect either Chrysalis in disguise, or an agent of Chancellor Neighsay. Either one looking to use the Tree as a weapon of some sort probably.

Spoiler

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Oh, without any question. I am leaning more towards the former - the cutie-mark and the previous episode lean towards it, but I suppose there's no reason that it can't be both.

[zimmerwald1915]

Spoiler: s8e22

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Ahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

I know, right!

Starlight did nothing wrong. Ever. Because she is categorically incapable of doing wrong. This is confirmed.

[DigoDragon]

Spoiler: s8e22

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I fracking called it.

Spoiler: What Lies Beneath

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I don't think we thought Cozy was anything but evil. I mean, it was kind of obvious from her first episode.

[Manga Shoggoth]

Kids know more than they're given credit for. Especially if they live in a state like mine where horse ranches are still a thing (but if you show them a hockey stick they often guess golf first).

That was more aimed at the writers than the kids. Kids TV has a dreadful habit of playing it down for children (which in all fairness MLP has tended to avert).