“Look Forward Not Back”

art by Jowybean

Wow, this was an episode!

Since starting these Afterthoughts, I have often praised My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic for the writers’ willingness to allow the character’s personal arcs and stories to progress and develop. They allow the characters to succeed, to reach long-time goals, and then use that success not as an ending but as a point of transition. Changes, even the most positive ones, bring new challenges. Success opens a door to new life lessons.

The episode starts by showing us that the lesson from “Sisterhooves Social” was learned, and that the relationship between Rarity and Sweetie Belle had improved immeasurably because of it. But now, times have changed. Rarity is growing busy and Sweetie Belle is growing up. Their personal success has lead to the sisters again growing apart. And they will need to take new effort to maintain and strengthen that bond if they want to keep it from fading.

To Rarity’s credit, she recognizes this, and she goes out of her way to take action, even in a time when the demands of her job would make it easy and reasonable to let it go just a little longer. She has Sassy Saddle’s encouragement and willingness to shoulder extra burden to thank for making the choice much easier. (For her cameo, I am glad Sassy got such a positive role showing this cornerstone of friendship.)

The conflict arises because of they way in which Rarity tries to renew the bond between her and her sister. And it is important to note that she isn’t naïve or oblivious; she knows in her head that things have irreversibly changed. But her heart isn’t ready to accept that. Instead, she falls victim to her own nostalgia, and tries to recapture a past that is simple that: past.

Has anyone here not experienced the pain of growing apart as we grow older? Old friendships, un-maintained, wane. Or as we and our friends or loved ones change, our interests and priorities shift away so that we no longer have the common ground that our relationships were once build on. Even when we still love each other, that love is no longer the binding force it once was. Distance can turn friends into strangers, or become the comfortable buffer zone between those who have already become strangers.

I have to laud the episode for not only focusing on this particular life lesson, but handling it so well. And for looking at it from parallel positions. In an episode like this, it would have been easy to cast Rarity negatively, or to make the entire episode an escalating series of increasingly ridiculous failed attempts to cage the past. Not only did the story do neither, but the second half of the tale with the CMC and Zipperwhill was not filler. It was just as important, tackling the same issue from another perspective. And it was because Sweetie Belle was experiencing a parallel situation (from the dog’s position, no less) that she was able to recognize the critical error.

art by Theroyalprincesses

I am reminded of a particularly insightful set of lyrics in a song from a favorite band of mine:

We recognize the present

Is half as pleasant

As our nostalgia for

The past that we presented

Recast and reinvented

Until it’s how we meant it.

Nostalgia is like alcohol: it is enjoyable in moderation and when indulged in a proper setting (best with friends), but there is something poisonous about it.

Life is change. The world does not stay the same, and neither do we. And as things change, what was old needs to adapt or get left behind. That which is left behind can be remembered; what was great at the time but cripplingly outdated now deserves its place in honorary displays or scrapbooks of memories. But trying to force them to serve today, or insisting that they shouldn’t be replaced, is absurd and often damaging. Clinging to the past doesn’t work.

I once owned a Colecovision video-game console. It was great. But nobody makes games for Colecovision anymore, and I wouldn’t still be playing those games even if I still had the system. I am strictly a PC gamer now, and I somewhat regularly upgrade my computer to be able to handle new games. I don’t expect a video card bought five years ago to handle Fallout 4 or Prey at its highest settings... or even at all.

Games have evolved, and what we demand from them now has too. System Shock II was one of the greatest games of its time, but would it do so well if it was released now and stood with its graphics and interface in comparison to games like BioShock, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Prey? I am well-known as a die-hard Fallout fan, but I can’t play the original Fallout; the game has aged so badly that the outdated and sub-par mechanics are enough to kill the enjoyment I would get from the story and setting.

But very, very often, change is unwanted. Even positive change is resisted and despised. Change brings new challenges and new adjustments. Change upsets the status quo and disrupts the comfortable familiarity of consistency. Many people would rather persist in a sub-optimal or even poor situation than deal with the disruption that even positive change brings to their lives.

art by AssasinMonkey

I will admit that there have been times in the past where I have bulked against and fought a change in my work schedule that I could have accommodated just because I didn’t want to. My life had fallen into a comfortable routine that I did not want to have disturbed, and the adjustment period would have been stressful.

How many of you know (or maybe even are) bronies who reacted negatively to the show expanding its cast of characters to include Starlight? Or who didn’t want to see the CMC ever get their Cutie Marks? How many fans of the show threw an absolute fit when Twilight Sparkle became an alicorn? And for all the arguments and justifications for being upset, how much of it really just comes down to “I didn’t want that to change”?

Zoom out. How many of the problems in society and the world do we face because some people insist in standing in the way of progress? Even when they know that change is inevitable, they don’t want it to happen on their watch, and they are determined to impede evolution so they don’t have to deal with it. How many people try to treat the world as if it isn’t any different than it was generations ago, and want to believe the same solutions that served them then (or, just as often, didn’t) are good enough to serve them now? Who even treat words like “progress” and “progressive” as if they are somehow pejoratives?

From marriage equality to alicorn wings to an enjoyment of black box theatre, any degree of progress or maturing has the high potential to meet resistance from people who don’t want to see it. But this doesn’t mean that these people are bad. They are just misguided. And we should be able to empathize… because who of us has not struggled similarly ourselves? (For me, to the point that I’ve occasionally considered yet another work from that band akin to a personal theme song.) There are few things more human than resisting change.

art by DocWario

This sort of behavior, however, is futile and often damaging both to ourselves and those around us. The rock that stands in the path of the river may divert the current around it, but ultimately cannot stop the flow. In the process, it is continuously eroded and faces being swept away. Rarity’s actions in “Forever Filly” do not succeed because there never was a chance that they could. Just like Zipperwhill’s insistence was never going to turn her dog back into a puppy.

Instead, we must learn to adapt when things change. And when the people we know and care about change, that ability to adapt is crucial to any chance to maintain a strong relationship. But moreso, it takes work. And most often, it is hard. Ambivalence and lack of effort are even more erosive to a relationship than nostalgia could ever be. And for that reason, Rarity’s efforts are to be commended even when misguided.

“Forever Filly” takes great pains to show us that Rarity isn’t the villain here, starting out by showcasing not only her workload but her extreme competence. And Sweetie Belle isn’t simply a victim. Her outburst was completely understandable, yet only served to be hurtful and antagonistic. Rarity was completely correct in her statement that Sweetie Belle was being ungrateful.

art by thediscorded

Sweetie Belle’s behavior in this episode mirrored that of Starlight in “All Bottled Up”. Rarity was behaving in a way that was causing issues, but instead of talking to her sister, she took a passive role until she could no longer take it anymore, and she exploded. This situation called for open communication; and take it from me, communication is not best served at shouting volume.

The tragedy here is that most of the day – an increasingly rare opportunity for the two sisters to spend time together – was wasted. And they were both at fault. I believe, however, that the lesson learned here was worth the cost.

Fortunately, the lesson was learned… but with such wonderful characters as these, there was never any doubt it would be. If the episode had a flaw, it was that the plot was predictable. But predictability isn’t a crippling flaw, as the journey is enjoyable even when you know the destination. And this episode threw several unexpected moments that lifted it above what I was anticipating.

Most notably: Rarity’s admittance that she knew things had changed and that she couldn’t rebottle the past. This lead to one of the most poignant lines in the season, if not in the show.

“But it's just... the last time we did all of those things together, I... I didn't realize it was gonna be the last last time.

I loved doing those things with you. It's hard for me to let that go.”

This episode was absolutely rich and deeply meaningful, and I applaud how well it was handled.

PS: Between writing and posting this Afterthoughts, I took the opportunity to read another analysis. For more (and I would say even better) insight on this episode, I highly recommend Sprocket Doggingsworth’s blog

art by Rainihorn

Growing Pains:

More cameos from past episodes. Sassy Saddles, Zipperwhill, Twisty Pop and even a return of Claude the puppet show pony. (I admit I had to look up his name.) And they were all very well used. Claude’s show is quite impressive.

“I love it so much, I gave it its own term: Spring-sition!”

“Ohhh. I like that. [sighs] I'm going to have to relabel all my binders.”

“Way to immediately turn that around.” Sassy Saddles takes Rarity’s flair for drama in such beautiful stride.

I loved the CMC’s satisfied client wall! (Although I question some of the pictures on it.) It’s wonderful to see them taking to their talent with such a passion. And what an absolutely amazing talent to have.

“You’re tiny.” I like that Rarity apologized. And yes, Zipperwhill is tiny.

“Maybe if the ball tasted better?” Scootaloo, you have doomed yourself to an adorable Scootapuppy meme.

”Good Scootaloo”

I know only a little about Black Box Theatre, but it seems very cool. While sadly I have never had the chance to see Black Box Theatre, I have watched a lot of improve (which shares a few key elements), so I have at least an idea of what Sweetie Belle is into. I find it interesting and fitting that she would have a preference for it.

I am told that Ripley was named after Jim Miller’s dog. (Jim Miller is a storyboard artist/supervisor and co-director of the show. He is credited for “Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep” and voiced a handful of characters including Sombra and Trouble Shoes.)

“Sweetie Belle, you did ‘hate the camera’ for all of these shots!”

Twisty Pop tried to cheer Rarity up. The deflating balloon was sad.

“Right after she's done with her conversation. Anger is no excuse for poor manners, after all.” Good for you, Rarity. It is really nice that the writers decided to make the reason Rarity overheard Sweetie Belle’s lesson exposition be because of a strength of her character rather than a weakness.