Oh, ponies have always stayed up at night. Alone, or in pairs, but always in secret. The lovers, letting the moon light their path. The dreamers, looking to the stars for inspiration. But always in secret. There's a reason the moon is sometimes used as a symbol of secrets and mysteries.

Surely Luna would have known about this, if this were true? Actually, perhaps she did. But when you believe things to be a certain way, it can be hard to accept evidence that contradicts that. (Some would know this concept as "confirmation bias".) Emotions aren't always rational, or reasonable.

@ginger: That's what I was getting at in my first post. It's up to Celestia now to finish the job of reconciling with her sister, now that Luna's (relatively) back to normal.

edited 13th Jul '11 4:12:19 PM by KylerThatch

I always thought of the moon banishment as a sort of Power Incontinence on Celestia's part. The Elements are described as a powerful magical force, right? I think that just means they react together to create a huge load of magic, that the wielder can direct (you'll notice in the illustrations of the story, Celestia does in fact have the sixth element - the tiara. I believe that it's the channel through which the power generated by the other five is shaped and directed). Celestia was inexperienced with the magic, however, so she messed up. Something like, she didn't know what was causing luna to act like this, but she wanted it to leave = Luna gets banished. Twilight just didn't want Nightmare Moon to make eternal night = no power/desire to do so. Their different opinions on Luna herself affected the shape of the magic.

Y'know, if that didn't just shoot my fanfic in the foot, I might just be calling that my new fanon excuse for what happened

edited 13th Jul '11 4:23:58 PM by gingerninja666

Do you think Luna could go Night Mare Moon at any time?

If say an extremely powerful villain (Krastos the Gluemaker for argument's sake) was about to kill Celestia and the only way to stop this would be going Night Mare Moon, would Luna do it?

I've just realised that the second question is pointless since we've seen Luna for all of three lines.

I just noticed, the moral (not just the one in Twilight' letter) of boast busters seem a little weird don't you think? It basically says: If your talented, it's only ok to show off if you're modest about it. Display any pride in your abilities, then you're an obnoxious jerk.

If anything the moral should've been: "Pics or it didn't happen"

There is tension between what's acceptable pride and what's overweening.

More a case of how you do it.

I think it's more along the lines of "don't try to use your skills to make fools of others".

The issue wasn't Trixie's pride in her abilities, it was that she used her abilities solely for self-aggrandizement. Twilight has plenty of pride in her abilities, but she at least realized that she shouldn't use that skill to bother everyone else. There's "self-confidence" and there's "being a jackass".

edited 13th Jul '11 5:56:32 PM by JapaneseTeeth

Thing is, they dismissed Trixie as a jerk all of 5 second into her performance, even though it's what she does. Applejack even says basically, "Talents okay as long as you don't show it off"

I thought Trixie was supposed to be an entertainer?

edited 13th Jul '11 5:57:46 PM by gingerninja666

Entertaining is many things, but Trixie choose the heel method.

Actually, Trixie probably chose a perfect career for herself. She's supposed to be entertaining people, so gets to show off as much as she wants. The crowd gets to love her in a nicer way than just idolizing her outright (she actually seems freaked out and annoyed by groupies like Snips and Snails)

Yeah, but she wasn't just showing off, she was essentially saying "everyone else sucks, because you're not me."

There's fine line.

Yup, massive inferiority complex on that one

Yeah, she crossed that line between "I'm awesome" and "I'm awesome, therefore everyone else sucks".

There's nothing wrong with having talent, or showing it to people (which I think is why they demonstrated Twilight going to far in the other direction), but when you start using it to make others look bad, it's a problem.

edited 13th Jul '11 6:24:06 PM by JapaneseTeeth

Anyone else want to see the Diamond Dogs show up again?

She never outright says that she thinks everyone else sucks. She just thinks she's the hottest thing since sliced bread.

yeah, I want to know why they want jewels so badly

edited 13th Jul '11 6:42:37 PM by gingerninja666

Or as Rainbow Dash put it, "Magic's got nothing to do with it! Trixie's just a loudmouth."

Trxie is cute hope she shows up agin after luring her lesson.

What is the pony equlivent to wedding rings?

Horse shoes!

Well that brings a whole new meaning to "clopping"...

edited 13th Jul '11 6:52:15 PM by RichReeders

I think it's hoof bands, myself.

Yes I'm going there.

These are ponified Magical Girls from Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

Well, in Rarity's vision of Blueblood in Ticket Master, he actually had a ring on his horn.

Well, for pegasi, the wedding ring would be a horn ring. At least as Rarity imagines it. Otherwise, probably hoof bands.

Nice. Did you draw those yourself or use a generator?

edited 13th Jul '11 7:07:02 PM by JapaneseTeeth

Damn it, now I read Huckleberry Ann in Applejack's voice

The overall shape was the generator but the Soul Gems and cutie marks were both hand drawn.