@Mio Considering what the completed spell did, it should be obvious what he was trying to do, but never succeeded in.

Doesn't this just re-highlight the issue with alicorn ascension, i.e., if the Elements are involved with ascension in any way other than killing the non-alicorn, that only the Bearer of Magic (that is, a unicorn) can ascend?

@Dark; pretty sure the opening was still there when it broadcasted. Xyro usually omits it when uploading the episodes to Youtube so they don't get taken down immediately.

On the Elements of Harmony, I like to think that there other ponies that that helped Celestia & Luna wield them. Why we never hear about them? I don't know, maybe they were really modest and Celestia didn't want to glorify her friends by making them great heroes of history.

...Or she doesn't put them in stained glass windows cause she doesn't want to be reminded of them every time she sees the windows of Discord and Nightmare Moon.

Really, I think it is kinda odd that Celestia at least wielded the Elements on her own against Nightmare Moon. I wouldn't be surprised if they retcon that slightly if they ever get around to showing that fateful battle.

Also, Luna was totally Magic before going Nightmare Moon, if only because The Paragon Always Rebels

Because even a three-year-old knows BS when she sees it.◊

edited 17th Feb '13 6:54:59 PM by JakesBrain

@Lurker: Umm, no we don't. We know what it ended up actually doing, but we have no idea what he had in mind when he was writing it. Just because someone makes something with a particular purpose in mind doesn't mean it won't go on to do something completely different then intended.

@Red Given this particular method of ascension, yes. Celestia, Luna, and Cadance (if she wasn't just born that way) obviously did it some other way, though, so who knows what was required.

@Mio So, Starswirl had no idea what he was writing, but Celestia did? The spell was his unfinished masterpiece, meaning it was supposed to be the crowning achievement of his work. Considering that time travel is among the spells he managed to devise, there's not much else he could achieve.

edited 17th Feb '13 6:47:54 PM by PerpetualLurker

@Dark; pretty sure the opening was still there when it broadcasted. Xyro usually omits it when uploading the episodes to Youtube so they don't get taken down immediately.

Yes, the opening song was there when Magical Mystery Cure was broadcast on The Hub.

@Jake's: And there are also anecdotal stories about kids liking Princess Twilight, so I wouldn't take that as indicative.

Sadly, these plot threads will probably not be picked up. Retconning continuity and story problems no matter how small will only highlight the need to do so in the first place. I think it'll largely leave these shrowded in mystery.

I like how Perpetual Lurker portrayed it in his fanfic: there were four other element-bearers who helped take down Discord, but they all asked to be removed from the official record of the event. They all felt that their own involvement wasn't that meaningful, and they would rather be remembered or forgotten on their own merits instead of being forever enshrined as, "And these ponies were there, too."

Jake, could you maybe lower the rage heat from "boiling over" to "simmer"?

I personally don't believe that story, either.

@Lurker: Alright, I had forgotten about what Celestia was implying that when they were in the "Flow". That still doesn't explain why it would effect the Elements unless we are to assume that Star Swirl originally had access to them, or that he was doing something else with the spell. If the former case, why was it not mentioned anywhere or by anyone? In the latter case, just what did it do otherwise, and how was he trying to accomplish the "ascension"?

edited 17th Feb '13 7:00:03 PM by Mio

part 3 of chapter 37 is up.

@Mio: Here's my take on it:

Star Swirl's final spell was intended to allow a non-alicorn to ascend. He got to the point that he knew it involved the elements somehow (hence why casting the incomplete spell screwed with the bearers), but never realized that only the pony who represented the synthesis of the elements (magic/friendship) was the only one who could activate it. Celestia probably had an idea of what the problem was, but as she no longer had the elements, she couldn't confirm it and had to give it to Twilight. He probably got as far as "you have to combine the five elements to get an alicorn", so the preliminary section of the spell that Twilight had was supposed to do that, combine the elements of the five elements (he may not have known about the sixth), but he did it wrong and it ended up screwing with them.

@Red: Nobody says that the element of Magic is required to be a unicorn. All the ponies have magic; unicorn magic is just the most obvious.

edited 17th Feb '13 7:05:06 PM by JapaneseTeeth

I like that take, JT.

Plus, the element of Magic isn't magic magic. I've thought for a while that it's more like faith in one's friends.

On different sidenote, you know what I just realized?

This season finale didn't introduce, major or background, any new characters that became wildly popular in 24 hours. "The Best Night Ever" had Octavia and Spitfire*

OK, she appeared earlier, but this episode is when she was named and got a personality

, "A Canterlot Wedding" had Chrysalis and the Changelings.

This one? We had the singing blonde chicks, but I haven't seen much fanart of them. And...that's it. We had more returning popular characters like Vinyl Scratch and of course Derpy. Hell, the Quills and Sofa guy came back. I'm actually kinda surprised we didn't see more supporting cast characters like Cheerilee & Zecora.

...Cheerilee didn't have a role all season. I'm kinda sad now. Oh well, at least she went on a picnic with Big Macintosh.

@J Teeth: I guess that's a possibility.

If nothing else the incomplete spell did present one very uncomfortable implication. That the Element of Magic can apparently manipulate and alter the other elements depending on the bearer. We always new the Element of Magic was "special", but you would think something like that would be contrary to the Elements purpose.

My headcanon is that Cheerilee was on summer break. She'll be back at her job in Season 4.

That is odd. Perhaps it's because they went for broke on a certain mare cameoing about five times.

Yeah, I think Honesty, Generosity, and Magic make sense for Luna to have had. Especially because it's appropriately dramatic that she lost touch with those specific elements when she fell.

Theory: if the one reciting the spell was the bearer of a different element, that would be the element zapping the other five.

edited 17th Feb '13 7:17:54 PM by Enlong

@Mio It was an incomplete and broken spell. Plus, the very fact that somepony is the bearer of the Element of Magic means that the other bearers are their closest friends. Kinda removes any motivation to ever do something like that to them.

edited 17th Feb '13 7:18:42 PM by PerpetualLurker

Yeah, I think that since the spell only works through the elements, it's unlikely that it would ever be purposely misused in that way.

Also, this is pure headcanon, but I've always thought that the element of magic isn't specifically unicorn magic. I actually had a fanfic Plot Bunny a while back that involved Twilight being forced to branch out and learn about other types of magic than that of unicorns.

I still find the fact that it is capable of doing that, even by accident to be strange and rather unnerving. At the very least it makes using any kind of magic on or around the Elements a risky business, especially as a bearer.

That's what I did.

Durn takedowns.

edited 17th Feb '13 7:30:53 PM by edvedd

Magic can be a strange and dangerous thing when it isn't used properly. This was like hooking up a machine whose circutry has only been halfway completed. It might do nothing, it might fry all the components. What you should do is look at what's there and try to figure out how everything goes together before you switch things on.