art by AssasinMonkey

That. Was. Brilliant!

After a relatively short hiatus, Season Six returns with a thoroughly fun, top-tier episode, continuing the season's impressive streak of solid entertainment.

Even more, the episode continues the season's thematic progression of having episodes with morals that are more adult and applicable. This isn't to suggest that the morals of previous seasons weren't also very good, but compare to this one, they were more generic and simplistic. And for the third episode in a row, I feel there are a lot of fans who will feel personally attacked.

From my Afterthoughts on "Flutter Brutter":

“Flutter Brutter” is an episode that I expect to get mixed and even angry reviews for all the right reasons. The episode does not play gentle, and some people will feel triggered when it shines a light on issues in their own life that are uncomfortable to acknowledge, much less deal with. If it feels like the episode is making fun of you, chances are, there is something in your life that you need to address.

And from my Afterthoughts on "Spice Up Your Life":

Once again, the writers have given us an episode that will probably strike a bad chord with certain people. Like with “Flutter Brutter”, there are going to be people who find this episode strikes a little too close to home for their comfort. And again, if it is doing so because the featured character reflects actual faults in yourself, then it should be uncomfortable, and it is doing so for the right reasons. However, by the same measure, if the discomfort is because of surface similarities and not underlying issues, then it really isn’t about you.

The episode delivers a fairly realistic caricature of fandom arguments and many of the fans who argue them (particularly in regard to those who react negatively to progression or change, or who personally define the "true" fandom within the parameters of what they enjoy and become hostile towards elements that do not fall within those boundries and the fans who enjoy or support them).

But the episode does not treat these types of fans with scorn. Quite the opposite, the message of the episode (as it was, I felt, somewhat heavy-handedly stated at the end) is that respect and friendship surpasses differences of opinion.

More on that below the break. But first, I must say that the episode was an utter delight for me, in particular because my only other fanfiction is a Daring Do fan story! I had entirely different reasons to feel the episode take aim at me. And I couldn't help but notice that the Daring Do adventure in this episode involved a gimmick that I used myself in "Origin Story".

Cover art by Icekatze!

One of the beautiful aspects of this episode is that the conflict was so broadly applicable. The episode invoked the Daring Do fandom, but what we saw applies to any fandom. God knows, it applies to bronies. How many of us know (or are) fans who refuse to accept certain episodes? Or who only like the first season? Or the Lauren Faust seasons? Or everything before Twilicorn? Do you know (or are) someone who has staunch views on whether or not the comics are canon and will voice those opinions to everyone foolish enough to disagree? Or how about someone who has strong opinions on the relative value of G1? We have a rainbow variety of Quibble Pants amongst the bronies.

But the episode wasn't targeting bronies. This also applies to every other fandom. More importantly, it applies outside of fandoms. That is what makes this episode so timely. You can still be friends, and respect each other, even if you don't agree on what movies should be part of Star Wars... or you disagree on something more substantial, like refugee immigration... or clash over which presidential candidate you find least offensive... or even if you voted separate ways on Brexit. In a time when a lot of the world seems to be becoming more divided, this episode reminds us that we don't have to wall ourselves off based on opinions and interests.

art by TheRandomJoyrider

While many fans surely identified with Quibble Pants or Rainbow Dash, I also got to identify with A.K. Yearling (save, thankfully, for the actually-being-your-protagonist part... I'm very glad that I am not Littlepip and haven't had to go through what she did). I've been asked more than a few times to intervene in such arguments. (I usually manage to handle it with A.K. Yearling's grace. But... not always.)

Provoked by the react series by Strategic Jordan (latest episode here), I have been re-listening to several chapters of Fallout: Equestria on audiobook. Even though I wrote the story, I am regularly surprised by little details that I had forgotten. I have repeatedly stated that only Fallout: Equestria is canon; it is such a long story with so many details that it is difficult to expect anyone writing a spin-off to keep completely accurate to it. By making no other story canon, nobody is forced to read and try to keep track of the lore and details of additional stories as well... and, in fact, since their stories are automatically non-canon, they don't have to stress about keeping perfectly to the first one. In Project Horizons, for example, Somber ignores or re-writes a lot of the Fallout: Equestria canon, and that is okay.

Still, within the Fallout: Equestria sub-fandom, we have our own varieties of Quibble Pants. We even have the rare individual who decides that they will only accept certain parts of the original story, but categorically reject others (most often, the Epilogue and/or Afterword). Obviously, these actually are canon, much like the stories beyond the first trilogy of Daring Do were actually real (albeit perhaps with A.K. Yearling's now-acknowledged tendency towards embellishment ). Many times, when arguments occur, whether in fandoms or outside, at least one of the people are objectively wrong. "Stranger Than Fan Fiction" tries to teach us that even when they are, we can and should still be respectful both of the individual and of the personal or intellectual reasons behind their stance... even if the stance itself is wrong. And that friendship doesn't require either agreeing or being right.

art by luminaura

My best friend and I are like this. We like a lot of the same things, but we often like them for different reasons, or like different elements of them. (We naturally have just as many places where we have very stark differences of opinion.) This has caused a few fights and rough patches in the decades we have known each other, but it doesn't stop us from being the best of friends.

Now, as I wrap this up, there are a hoof-full of things I just have to comment on. This episode was a cornucopia of delicious details.

From Derpy also being a Daring Do fan (and having the best Caballeron cosplay...

...to the nod the cloppier side of fandoms, including fans with a "favorite characters in bondage" fetish and dakimakura (with even one of Caballeron's henchponies buying one!)...

Honestly, I don't know which I love more: the pillow, or Rainbow Dash's reaction to it!

...to the disgruntled expressions of the (often harassed and under-paid) non-fan staff...

Schadenfreude!

...to the adorableness of Rainbow Dash fangirlling about the convention, getting to be in A.K. Yearling's room, and Daring Do herself!

Once again, the new episode delivered so many new faces that the fandom is drowning in the wealth of it. And Rainbow Dash has rarely if ever been so cute. Or so smug. This was an incredible episode for her.

Even still, Patton Oswalt stole the show. And Quibble Pants got, hooves down (metaphorically speaking), the best line in the entire episode!

"You need to get your money back."

I could empathize with Quibble Pants. If someone, particularly a complete stranger, dragged any one of us into a patently reality-defying situation, how long would we spend looking for the con or the reasonable explanation before finally being willing to accept magic/alien body-snatchers/a pony princess from an alternate dimension/etc as real?

by Mark Twain

“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't.”

And it is easy to understand Quibble Pants' objections to the "realism" of Daring Do's very real adventures. This is actually a problem that fiction writers have always struggled with. In reality, people make decisions that seem completely absurd or unbelievably idiotic. Not just as individuals, but en-masse. The basic morality and decency of people can catastrophically fail, and situational blindness can occur on a staggering scale, allowing things to happen that seem cartoonishly, moustache-twirlingly evil. Coincidences can stack up that make the death sequences in a Final Destination movie seem plausible in comparison. To wax slightly political, if you described the current primary party candidates in the United States presidential election to people just a year ago, how many would have dismissed it as not merely impossible but ludicrous? How about thirty years ago?

And yet, fiction writers cannot write such things without them being called out as "unrealistic". Instead, writers have to make fiction more believable than reality in order to allow many readers to suspend their disbelief.

by The Nostalgia Critic

"That's not bad writing; that actually happened."

Thus, I particularly loved this perfect exchange.

Daring Do: Who were you again?

Rainbow Dash: He's a fan.

Daring Do: Uh-huh.

Finally, those credits! Best surprise credit score yet!

art by 紫目(muRSKme)