My Little Pony XLIIV: Season II Ruined My Fanon!

[Gnomish Wanderer]

Hi hi. Just wanted to say I watched the first 14 episodes on Netflix today to see what all the fuss was about. It's a pretty good show and I enjoyed it. ^_^ Also there are a lot more ponies on this page of this thread than I've seen around and that I thought were. But yeah, good times!

[Shadow of the Sun]

>.>

Just posting so that I can keep up with the thread!

[Kd7sov]

I will note that I once heard the fanon that "Putting Your Hoof Down" takes place before S1E1, and that all the confidence she'd shown before That Episode was based on the lessons she learned therein. Makes the episode much more palatable. I still wouldn't say it's palatable at all, but it's better than taking the chronology at face value.

This could work. Except for one thing.

The Celestia letter at the end. Pre-Sparkle Fluttershy has no known reason to write a letter to the Princess at all, let alone one about self-improvement and friendship.

[Aotrs Commander]

POKONIC (or whoever it was who got that contest drawrequest off me?), you asked for the FULL PONYTHREAD ELEMENTS OF HARMONY to be drawn by me.

WELL LET NO ONE SAY I HALF-ASS CONTEST REWARDS

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"What is it, SiuiS?"
"You see, Mask, a long time ago a bunch of friends decided they, too, could wield the elements of harmony. However, the group of friends was closer to forty than six. After a while, the elements started getting very silly."

Fullview here

I USED MY FULL ASS

Impressive...

[Soras Teva Gee]

I don't know. I was never so glad for the element of bacon because it was at least easy to represent with a symbol. You guys figure it out.

Okay I was just wondering because I saw the W and was all "d'aww the Element of Wiki was remembered" so I was wondering if there was any particular thought.

Hi hi. Just wanted to say I watched the first 14 episodes on Netflix today to see what all the fuss was about. It's a pretty good show and I enjoyed it. ^_^ Also there are a lot more ponies on this page of this thread than I've seen around and that I thought were. But yeah, good times!

You will find that ponies are everywhere. Also, welcome to the ponysanity:

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WE ARE THE HERD.
LOWER YOUR SHIELDS AND SURRENDER YOUR MEDIA DEVICES.
WE WILL ADD YOUR BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DISTINCTIVENESS TO OUR OWN
YOUR SOCIAL LIFE WILL ADAPT TO SERVICE US.

This could work. Except for one thing.

The Celestia letter at the end. Pre-Sparkle Fluttershy has no known reason to write a letter to the Princess at all, let alone one about self-improvement and friendship.

I find all attempts to put the episodes in anything other then airing/production order a bit fundamentally misguided. For all "they can be seen in any order" there's some pretty evident advancement. Just as always don't try to strictly analyze it. Stories are not made to fit into neat boxes like that. The episodes are all in order, screw that winter precedes fall in time under a year

[Thanqol]

Okay I was just wondering because I saw the W and was all "d'aww the Element of Wiki was remembered" so I was wondering if there was any particular thought.

Of course I remember the Element of Wiki! The YouTube logo and the multiquote button are in there too.

[Bayonet Priest]

I came out of basic about a week ago. It was.... an Interesting experience, to be honest. X)


First things, first, I suppose...

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The first day we got there, the first things said to us:

"Get off the damn bus."

Already, things were horrible.

Quickly we were rushed upstairs and had to shower, shave, and brush our teeth all within about the space of two minutes. While we were unpacking, we were all forced to stop due to one pair giggling in the back. We stood around for half an hour while the MTI (Military Training Instructor) waited for him to tell a joke that made him laugh.

We met our actual MTI sometime after that night. Man, he was an interesting character, let me tell you.
He didn't swear at us. No, no no. He didn't have to. the time we spent pushing on our faces was more than enough.

We learned drill, we learned customs and courtesies, we had to take our hats off as we entered a building and put them on as we left.

We had books to study on a lot of basic military subjects, and pretty much had to study them whenever we got the chance, which wasn't very often.

The most difficult part, though, was just how detailed and neat we had to keep everything. and I mean EVERYTHING. T-shirts had to bee rolled PERFECTLY. completely flush, flat, and grounded. the top facing the rear of the wall locker. Towels flush and folded just so. NO strings on our uniforms (And trust me, they checked every inch of those things). No dust bunnies on the floors, hospital corners at 90 degrees... and you had to insure you did NOT, and I mean DID NOT, screw up on Entry Controller duty. no one was allowed to enter your dormitory unless they were authorized first.

Anyways... X)

I was so afraid the whole time of getting recycled (The term used for sending you back in weeks if you weren't up to standard). I broke down about halfway through 2nd week. I was dribbling like a little baby!

WE got to go through a program called BEAST, which was a simulated combat environment. the best of that was sleeping in Tents. during a tornado. =)

There was a tornado that touched down near our campsite while we were in the tents. those winds were howling like crazy. and you know what? I only woke up once. Because I had to pee.

We had to do anything we could to keep ourselves sane. When the MTI wasn't there after we finished details, we would play baseball with a paper ball and a mop handle. I taught everyone silly riddle games like Green Glass Door, and we would constantly joke about our MTI and the silly things he and our Brother flight MTI would say.

Our favorites were probably "Get outta the way!" and "NO!" it was the way he said it, more than what he said.

We also had another phrase we had borrowed from a different MTI:
"I'm a Honey Badger. I do what I want".

all in all, our flight did average. we weren't the best, but we were fairly decent at everything, Our marching, our PT, our tests.

Boy, the MTI's could be scary, especially when you did something wrong. and you could not LAUGH at all if they did or said something funny. you would be drilled for that. Hard. They had so much fun testing us on our knowledge of your studies right after dinner.

some of the funnier things they did and/or said:

I heard one sing the Mario theme song AT somebody. It was weird as anything.
And another hum circus clown music whenever a Trainee did something wrong.

I ended up failing on of my final locker inspections and nearly lost what little time I would have been able to spend on the town... but, luckily, I was able to work things out so I could. and San Antonio was AMAZING. I'm glad I was able to go and explore it. =)

I met a few people I might consider friends... but i barely see any of the ones that made it to the same tech school as me.

Speaking of which, I am currently sitting here writing in Mississippi. and it's the weekend. AWWWW Yeah!

Man that sounds crazy. Glad to here that you beast moded through it though. I can't remember what branch you said you joined, was it Air Force? I'm actually going to be trying to get into the Coast Guard now that this semester is over so it's good to here first hand accounts of what stuff like basic is like.

[otakuryoga]

Hi hi. Just wanted to say I watched the first 14 episodes on Netflix today to see what all the fuss was about. It's a pretty good show and I enjoyed it. ^_^ Also there are a lot more ponies on this page of this thread than I've seen around and that I thought were. But yeah, good times!

Welcome...

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We have a lot of love to give around these parts..

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Please feel free to give in to the madness

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Allow me to give you the dime tour..
Hi there! Hope to see you around some more in the future!
ah, yes, well, I was going to save her for later but that was The Pink One. She is our resident Eldritch Horror, you'll see her pop into random posts from time to time.

I would introduce you to some of our OC's but there are a few people with so many of em i am not always sure they can keep them straight.

we have beings posting here from across the spectrum..
from our (very) friendly avatar of a love goddess Lix Lorn

several multi/non dimensional beings

various cults and secret societies
Join the Fluttermancers!
(yes Mistress Fluttershy, i was about to give him the pamphlet)

right through to our very own high-tech Space Lich
(word of advice: NEVER bring up Vampire Jubilee to him)

..oh, and do try not to stand in one place for very long as it will lead to a strike from various orbital based hug/friendship weaponry( i swear we cannot go 5 pages without a random bombardment)

Even though you may see a lot of back and forth "hostilities" between the Space Lich and others, we here in the thread will always have each others backs

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Occasionally we even manage to talk about the important plots from the show

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[Kd7sov]

I find all attempts to put the episodes in anything other then airing/production order a bit fundamentally misguided. For all "they can be seen in any order" there's some pretty evident advancement. Just as always don't try to strictly analyze it. Stories are not made to fit into neat boxes like that. The episodes are all in order, screw that winter precedes fall in time under a year

You are entitled to your opinion, of course. And yes, there are bits of continuity - "A Friend in Deed" has to come after both "Baby Cakes" and "Read It and Weep", for instance.

But... I play Fluttershy in an ongoing RP thing. And if we (currently myself, a Twilight Sparkle, a Pinkie Pie, and a G4-ed Minty) tried to do every episode in order we'd have no hair left. We do things as they seem seasonally or narratively appropriate, and move on. We just finished "Hurricane Fluttershy", followed by a hoofwave of "Sweet and Elite"; "It's About Time" will be somewhere in the near future, with "Baby Cakes" and "May the Best Pet Win!" tentatively in about a month. Other episodes we may just refer to the events or repercussions thereof in passing. And I don't see any conflict involved there.

It's like the Young Wizards books. Each book takes place in the year it's written, as far as technology and culture and to some degree history are concerned. And yet the characters may have experienced something like two years since the first book, which came out in 1983. And there is no inconsistency at all. (Well, that's not entirely true. The way wizardry works in the earlier books doesn't quite match up with the way it works now. But there's no timeline inconsistency.)

[BlasTech]

Hi hi. Just wanted to say I watched the first 14 episodes on Netflix today to see what all the fuss was about. It's a pretty good show and I enjoyed it. ^_^ Also there are a lot more ponies on this page of this thread than I've seen around and that I thought were. But yeah, good times!

*Tries to resist posting a gif*

*Fails miserably*

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Phew, okay, sorry about that. It's the traditional greeting . Now that I have that out of my system. Hi Gnomish! ^^

If anything in here just seems off the wall crazy, don't worry, that's just normal ponythread.

[Kyouhen]

I made the video of that reference.



POKONIC (or whoever it was who got that contest drawrequest off me?), you asked for the FULL PONYTHREAD ELEMENTS OF HARMONY to be drawn by me.

WELL LET NO ONE SAY I HALF-ASS CONTEST REWARDS

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"What is it, SiuiS?"
"You see, Mask, a long time ago a bunch of friends decided they, too, could wield the elements of harmony. However, the group of friends was closer to forty than six. After a while, the elements started getting very silly."

Fullview here

I USED MY FULL ASS

Wow, impressive. Now can you do a picture of what happens when they all fire?

[otakuryoga]

rofl...Super Wedgie
Supergirl does NOT play fair!

[Luka]

Hi hi. Just wanted to say I watched the first 14 episodes on Netflix today to see what all the fuss was about. It's a pretty good show and I enjoyed it. ^_^ Also there are a lot more ponies on this page of this thread than I've seen around and that I thought were. But yeah, good times!

Oh hi! it's good to see someone known around!....
Dude, everyone falls for it like in 5 seconds and I'm still like "meh"

Even though you may see a lot of back and forth "hostilities" between the Space Lich and others, we here in the thread will always have each others backs

Oh, good luck doing it against the humans

[Mewtarthio]

This could work. Except for one thing.

The Celestia letter at the end. Pre-Sparkle Fluttershy has no known reason to write a letter to the Princess at all, let alone one about self-improvement and friendship.

Fluttershy had always had a bit of a crush on the Princess. High off her newfound confidence, she decided to just write Celestia a letter about how her day was. Sure, she knew the Princess wouldn't even know who she was, and she probably wouldn't get the letter in the first place, but, dammit, she was a confident young mare now! Just once in her life, she could do something crazy. No consequences! No regrets! She stuffed the letter into the mailbox and trotted away, giggling to herself.

Then she rushed back at top speed, snatched the letter back, burned it before anypony could see it, and locked herself in her room the rest of the day.

I find all attempts to put the episodes in anything other then airing/production order a bit fundamentally misguided. For all "they can be seen in any order" there's some pretty evident advancement. Just as always don't try to strictly analyze it. Stories are not made to fit into neat boxes like that. The episodes are all in order, screw that winter precedes fall in time under a year

That's a perfectly reasonable stance. As is the stance that no romantic relationships are implied in the show. As is the stance that Chrysalis was just trying to take over the WORLD and not really attempting to destabilize Equestria's government while the real changeling army infiltrated nearby cities posing as refugees from the attack.

To be quite honest, I think that a reasonable fandom is a boring fandom. Let's turn the Wild Mass Guessing dial up to 11 and party 'til Season 3 starts!

[Silverraptor]

Unfortunately, research into weaponizing love has stalled due to the persistent confusion regarding generation methods.

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Darn. Well, I hope they sort it out soon though

I will note that I once heard the fanon that "Putting Your Hoof Down" takes place before S1E1, and that all the confidence she'd shown before That Episode was based on the lessons she learned therein. Makes the episode much more palatable. I still wouldn't say it's palatable at all, but it's better than taking the chronology at face value.

Only problem with that episode is that Fluttershy is writing a letter to Celestia at the end, which only would've happened after Leason Zero.

I did that weeks ago; might have to revise it slightly (i.e. add the last few episodes to the list), but otherwise, I think I might've got it.

Can you post your lists so that we may review it?

[Pokonic]

I made the video of that reference.



POKONIC (or whoever it was who got that contest drawrequest off me?), you asked for the FULL PONYTHREAD ELEMENTS OF HARMONY to be drawn by me.

WELL LET NO ONE SAY I HALF-ASS CONTEST REWARDS

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"What is it, SiuiS?"
"You see, Mask, a long time ago a bunch of friends decided they, too, could wield the elements of harmony. However, the group of friends was closer to forty than six. After a while, the elements started getting very silly."

Fullview here

I USED MY FULL ASS

Heh, when you said "abstract", I never expected it to look this.....good!

[Beacon of Chaos]

Let's kick this thread off with

Thanqol's Fabulous (and totally stolen) CONTEST!

Pick some random object in your house. That object is now a pony's cutie mark. Tell me a story about how that pony got that cutie mark.

There will be fabulous prizes!

(And I'm suddenly reminded of my last promised prize distributions, I'll get on those tomorrow hopefully)

I'll give this a go soon. Got a couple of ideas in mind.

"Fabulous prizes" is always a good way to get my attention.

What time is it Ponythread? It's time for League of Ponies!

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Which reminds me, I couldn't find any of the usernames that were posted when I typed them into the friend-finder in LoL. What am I doing wrong, and is this Ponythread group thing actually happening?

Hi hi. Just wanted to say I watched the first 14 episodes on Netflix today to see what all the fuss was about. It's a pretty good show and I enjoyed it. ^_^ Also there are a lot more ponies on this page of this thread than I've seen around and that I thought were. But yeah, good times!

This is why you don't go using mind-affecting magic indiscriminately, Cadence:

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EDIT: Re: pony wedding rings, as I believe that came up a while back

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[maximus25]

I saw something that got me to thinking the other day. How different would season 2 have been if bronies hadn't been a thing? I imagine quite different.

[Alabenson]

..oh, and do try not to stand in one place for very long as it will lead to a strike from various orbital based hug/friendship weaponry( i swear we cannot go 5 pages without a random bombardment)

This calls for a demonstration. FIRE AT WILL! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!

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I love doing that! And now, to welcome our newest poster, UNLEASH THE HUGS!

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And now for the big finish

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[Rebelhero]

Hey guys, have we done a favorite 3 songs from season 2 poll yet? or how about list of favorites from both seasons?

ALSO. after watching the last 2 episodes, in addition to my glee, there was a profound sadness. and after watching the last few scenes again, i figured it out. it felt very similar to a SERIES finale. I suddenly felt as if there would be no ponies EVER again. but there was also that happy feeling of "this was a great way to end it"

[Pokonic]

This calls for a demonstration. FIRE AT WILL! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!

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I love doing that! And now, to welcome our newest poster, UNLEASH THE HUGS!

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And now for the big finish

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Oh, come on! Thats it, your going in the books. As in, the book we give to the press that contain those who have preformed crimes against ponykind and there known locations. Oh, and a bounty larger than what you see in a year. You would have been fine if you just accepted our suggestions, but now you can run arund like a headless cockatrace for the rest of your life.

[Alabenson]

Hey guys, have we done a favorite 3 songs from season 2 poll yet? or how about list of favorites from both seasons?

ALSO. after watching the last 2 episodes, in addition to my glee, there was a profound sadness. and after watching the last few scenes again, i figured it out. it felt very similar to a SERIES finale. I suddenly felt as if there would be no ponies EVER again. but there was also that happy feeling of "this was a great way to end it"

I'd have to say my top 3 songs of S2 would be
Smile Smile Smile
This Day Aria
and
Becoming Popular

As for the Season 2 finale having a series finale feel, I believe the reason was that the finale was planned prior to the annoucement of Season 3, and Studio B wanted to make sure that if it was the end, that it would be an endind worthy of the series.

[darthbobcat]

My favorite season 2 song was Pinkie's Smile Smile Smile. In fact, for me, it blows the competition out of the water so thoroughly that I'm having a hard time thinking of 2nd and 3rd favorite.

I suppose my other two favorites are... Cider Squeezy and Becoming Popular.

[Deadly]

Though on Chrysalis's power of love tap being more powerful then Celestia:


It wasn't more powerful then Celestia, it was more powerful then Celestia's opening attack. Which Celestia though would be more then enough to finish Chrysalis, but wasn't her full power. Thus, she was surprised, didn't react fast enough when the attack didn't work, and took a solid direct hit, which took her out of the fighting, much to everypony and Chrysalis's surprise. She didn't lose because her love wasn't strong enough, she lost cause she didn't use all of her power at her disposal.


If they got a rematch, My Money's on Celestia.

This makes sense to me and I think explains everything nicely.

Turn it around why would you think for a moment Celestia can? Its never stated anywhere and Love is not among the EoH which is the only "external" magical source she is known for her. So why does Celestia get a power boost from the Power of Love?

When you assume a requirement into existence then the problem isn't in the show if it isn't upheld.



To get deeply philosophical for a moment that's getting it backwards. Love is a deep connection between two people. While I've know doubt Celestia intellectually cares for her subjects she can only even know a fraction of them, much less have any kind of personal bond that can be called love. Because she can't even know them. To push beyond that is well frankly just beyond her.

It requires her to not merely be, but to be omnipresent. To be not even merely goddess... but God. To borrow the Dresden File's distinction.

That's not a requirement she can meet by concept. I've no doubt Celestia loves Luna as a sister and Twilight as mentor/mother figure, but that covers characters we know who have any kind of personal connection with her. We can infer though that any Shining Armor to her Cadence either didn't work out or is long over. Which is the price being an ageless sorceress queen incurs, its lonely at the top, etc...

(To supplement this are you familiar with the idea of the Four Loves?)

I am not suggesting that Celestia has a deep and personal love for each and every one of her subjects individually. I am suggesting that she has a deep and profound love for all of her subjects as one. She may love a few specific ponies too, like Luna and Twilight, but that's besides the point and not what I'm thinking of here. Though no doubt her love for those two would also be strong and possibly something she could tap into if ever they were seriously threatened (with actual harm or something).

I'm willing to concede that she may need the Elements to harness the full potential of her Love (my head canon puts Love as a kind of Friendship and thus within the domain of the Elements), but we have seen for example in Twilights's cutie mark story that the magic of friendship can be used without the Elements present and even with all its wearers unaware of each other. Sure Twilight didn't have any control over it, but it's possible that this was simply a result of circumstances or Twilight being so young.

As I see it, the magic of friendship and love has a sort of life of its own and is likely to take over or surge in certain situations, probably dramatic situations in particular, but it can be intentionally focused to a degree but only to its full extent with the help of the Elements.

[Maxtronaut]

Howdy, thread! Chapter 7 is out, so go take a look if you want. :)

Spoiler: Changelings are invloved.

[Sean Mirrsen]

I am... suddenly realizing we're looking into the matter from the wrong end, as it were. It's not fierce love for someone that gives you power (as displayed, at least), it's love from someone. I.e. Chrysalis has no love to give whatsoever, yet utilizes it to the fullest. Celestia, even if she loves her subjects, would require them all to actually love her in return, which I don't really see happening. At most, she has her sister's love, plus whoever is in her "closest circle". From what we've seen of ponies' reactions to her, she's revered as an old, wise, and powerful Princess, in the "matriarch ruler of all the land" sense. Very few would see her as any more than a reasonable authority figure.

Or, I can bring one of my favorite modern-fantasy universe mechanics into this, and liken the Power of Love to, you're going to laugh, the Twilight (or perhaps the Gloom, to avoid the likeness), from the Night Watch series by Sergei Luk'yanenko. All people exist in a balance, between the amount of magical energy they draw from the Gloom, and release into it. Completely normal people release more energy than they draw, but the most powerful mages draw more than they release, acting as "sinkholes" for the power. If the Power of Love works in a similar way in Equestria, it may be that Chrysalis could beat Celestia because for all the Love she draws, she releases none converting it all into raw power, whereas Celestia is in balance, but has more normal power through drawing it raw, from her Sun.

[MCerberus]

You know, I'd like to make one request to anyone making pony arts:

You're using vectors.
They're there so you can appropriately size them.
You know, so you can have them fit places.


You don't need 2000x4500 pixel things. I know you're doing it on purpose.

[Sean Mirrsen]

You know, I'd like to make one request to anyone making pony arts:

You're using vectors.
They're there so you can appropriately size them.
You know, so you can have them fit places.


You don't need 2000x4500 pixel things. I know you're doing it on purpose.

I don't know any web-compatible format (save Flash) that can actually display vectors though. So for anyone who wants their picture custom-sized, having a ridiculous-resolution base image is good. Also for prints, those that are bitmap-based at least.

[Soras Teva Gee]

I am not suggesting that Celestia has a deep and personal love for each and every one of her subjects individually. I am suggesting that she has a deep and profound love for all of her subjects as one.

Put simply, that isn't love. You can't have any sort of serious emotional connection like that of any capacity as love. She might be compassionate, but she is not in love with her subjects.

I'm willing to concede that she may need the Elements to harness the full potential of her Love (my head canon puts Love as a kind of Friendship and thus within the domain of the Elements),

You are basing your issue around divergence from head canon, do I have to make this point?

but we have seen for example in Twilights's cutie mark story that the magic of friendship can be used without the Elements present and even with all its wearers unaware of each other.

Or the explanation that this is simply Twilight's own talent for magic manifesting. Your connection here is purely speculative, when you build bridges of linked speculation its more surprising when they don't fall apart.

As I see it, the magic of friendship and love has a sort of life of its own and is likely to take over or surge in certain situations, probably dramatic situations in particular, but it can be intentionally focused to a degree but only to its full extent with the help of the Elements.

You can believe as you like... that is entirely different then raising some sort of problem in canon from it.

I have headcanon too but treat it ruthlessly. Every time canon expands I slit my headcanon's throat and kick out the back of the van while cruising down the highway.

As yet we cannot make Cadence's UberLoveCharge effect as more then her own particular unicorn magic. Remember Shining already built a forcefield of the size used to throw the Changelings out on his own. If you want to link them knock yourself out... but you can't base Fridge Logic off it.

To which I return to my initial objection: Why does Celestia have to be running off the Power of Love in the first place?

[MCerberus]

I don't know any web-compatible format (save Flash) that can actually display vectors though. So for anyone who wants their picture custom-sized, having a ridiculous-resolution base image is good. Also for prints, those that are bitmap-based at least.

I'm more speaking of 'I just made a vector of filly Pinkie. Time to get out the scale tool and inflate the file size'. Stuff to where only the eye fits on my 1920 width display.