As long as we're here, we're going to be ok.

Yeah, Faust has all but admitted that pretty much everything she's said since leaving the show is just her take, and the writing crew is free to do something else. I.e. we have no solid info on the bat ponies unless the show (or maybe the comics) goes into more detail.

Just finished Lesson Zero and Luna Eclipsed. Out of the two episodes that I think liked better I'm would go with Luna Eclipsed, Lesson Zero I'm kind of mixed on because of Twilight overreacting in that episode don't get me wrong I liked that episode but the moral seemed a bit half hearted to me.

Luna Eclipsed on the other hand though, it's become one of my favourite episodes and throughout that entire episode I just wanted to hug Luna for all the shit she has been put through for that episode and I did find it a bit weird on how they are celebrating a Halloween themed festival on a being who tried to takeover Ponyville but I digress it was certainly one of the better episodes of the show. Plus Luna's one of my new favourites besides Rainbow Dash and Discord.

edited 22nd Aug '13 10:50:05 AM by Starscream759

Yeah, Luna is pretty awesome.

Lesson Zero is honestly one of my favorite episodes, mainly because I was in the middle graduate school when I first watched it and I could totally relate to Twilight's breakdown. The moral was a bit iffy, but the rest of it was awesome enough that I don't care.

Luna Eclipsed was great, too, although I felt like the resolution was a bit weird. I mean, the problem is that she's accidentally terrifying everyone, so the solution is... act scary on purpose and this somehow fixes things? I'm not sure how that worked. It would have been fine if everyone hadn't been completely and legitimately terrified of her.

My friend Bard who saw that had the exact same opinion. Luna's now one of his favorite characters.

Luna got a lot of new fans after that episode aired. Especially among people who were sick of the "Woona" stuff that was so popular.

I like the episodes when a pony goes through a mental breakdown...it's like looking into a mirror.

Afternoon folk, what's up?

Nothing much here. You?

I'm just taking a brief break from my job.

I initially didn't like Lesson Zero since I thought Twilight's breakdown was overexaggerated, but it's grown on me.

Not too much, I had a division luncheon and was told I could leave afterwards, and so I did.

Afternoon, everyone.

I remember Lesson Zero came out right around the time I had my first "big" paper for 11th English due, and I was down in Texas with shoddy internet. Everytime I tried email my teacher the paper it would just bounce back or something. My teacher was pretty understanding. So it was funny coming home to watch Twi flip out after I had my own miniature freakout.

Yeah, aside from my lack of magic powers, that was pretty much how I felt whenever I had a deadline looming. I still get it sometimes.

My reaction to a deadline looming?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsBlQ0gdo5o

I kind of have to wonder if the mental disorder subtext is supposed to mean anything or not. Given the writer' awareness of an older audience, I'd say it leans towards an actual mental hangup for Twi that won't be directly addressed.

For me it helps if you consider the episode occurring a few weeks after the Return of Harmony when things are just about back to normal but Twi has some residual stress that just gets piled on after her freak out.

Twi's brain was still a little scrambled after Discord danced on her head.

Well, in "Games Ponies Play", Ms. Peachbottom totally had claustrophobia even if it was never explicitly stated in the episode. So subtextual mental problems aren't out of the question.

But why no one else?

Pressumably they've already had their breakdowns and gotten over them. Twi had to stay the sane one, which can be more stressful to keep it together. She probably just had enough and snapped. Which seems to have done her a bit of good now it's out of her system and she hasn't had a relapse.

@Mio: They were basically just brainwashed and never actually acted badly of their own free will. When Twilight got Discorded, it was entirely her choice, which meant she'd feel a lot more responsibility. The other thing is that while the others did interact with each other's Discorded versions, they only did so after being being brainwashed themselves. Twilight had to deal with all of her friends acting like jerks to her at the same time, with no explanation as to why.

While I'm sure the others took a while to recover, Twilight definitely got the worst of it, as Discord was specifically attempting to break her.

And besides that, none of the others have quite the same issues with living up to their own standards that Twilight does. RD has self esteem issues, and AJ really values her reputation around town, but in both of their cases they seek approval from friends and peers (RD's Wonderbolt aspirations aside) and the majority of the time they aren't being examined over it.

On the other hand, Twilight is basically the #1 student in the country, and has probably been constantly graded and analyzed for most of her life. The closest thing she has to a vocation is learning, so when she fails at that it hits her every bit as hard as it would hit RD to crash and burn in front of the Wonderbolts. Add in that she's intensely reverential of Celestia and it's not hard to see why she'd have an inflated idea of how important the assignment is.

edited 22nd Aug '13 12:46:20 PM by JapaneseTeeth

@J Teeth: Givien that theory, I would actually thinking that being brainwashed against their will would effect their mental capacity significantly more then giving in by choice. I think that would lead more depression and regret then insanity.

That aside I'm not quite willing to believe that Twilight had much of a choice since she has the signature gray of being controlled by Discord. Really, all of the "corruption" that takes place is really rendered quite worthless in the face of his perfect mind control magic.

This didn't seem to be much of an issue at the beginning of the series. What happened between then and now to prompt such a change (besides a shift in creative direction)?

edited 22nd Aug '13 12:54:57 PM by Mio

Even so Twilight's breakdown led to some freaky images in that episode. God the moment she came out of those bushes I dropped my iPod touch onto my bed. I wonder if that nightmarish scene of those fillies laughing and pointing at her was supposed to be a hint to her childhood?

edited 22nd Aug '13 1:09:31 PM by Starscream759

I'm just saying that Twilight's decision to reject her friends may have hit her harder because it was her decision. The others only did so because Discord forced them to. Yeah, there would definitely be some damage from the fact that they were mind-controlled at all, but I would think that their guilt over their Discorded actions would be less than if they had done all that voluntarily.

edited 22nd Aug '13 1:08:14 PM by JapaneseTeeth

True, guilt is not really what's being debated here (at least I thought not), it's about whether if the theory that Twilight being Discorded should have effected her enough to lead to the events of Lesson Zero which I say it wasn't given everyone else. And really, we don't see her ever feeling guilt about giving into Discord ever so that assertion seems dubious at best.