Season 9 Discussion Thread [NO SPOILERS, DF airings only]

Hey let’s just combine Make New Friends But Keep Discord and Forever Filly.
 
Boom, episode.
 
At least with Discord, he didn’t have friends before, so being jealous of Tree Hugger was a new thing for him.
 
This is just Rarity mad that she’s lost her child labor.
 
There is something mildly amusing about hiding who Rarity has decided to replace Spike with, and fuck it, Rarity acting still has its charm cause the fainting couch gag is still funny, but man out of the Mane 6 “final episodes” (I’m assuming this is Rarity’s last focus), over half of them involve the mane character being a jackass for plot reasons.
 
And only one of them gets a pass because Angel’s in her body.
 
I guess it was nice seeing Gabby again in actual focus, give her a little more to her character than Pinkie 2.0. Can’t really say much about it since I was never a huge fan of her, but to the people who wanted to see more, good for them.
 
Seriously though, Gabby has other friends. It’s not like Spike is his only friend in Ponyville while Rarity’s off being petty jealous. She still has the Crusaders. It’s not like they’re doing anything.
 
Episode’s alright, but man I wish we could expand more on Spike’s interspecies relationships.
 
A shame that we aren’t getting any closure on the relationship, though I guess you can conclude that Spike’s moved on and is now setting his sights on Ember and Thorax. Maybe one day someone’s ship will be canon. Maybe LyraBon.
 

After a re-watch, I do think more highly of the episode. The second half is weak, but the first is still pretty damn good.
 
I still don’t like Rarity’s reasonings in the latter half, but it isn’t a total character betrayal.

@gingerninja666  
Yeah, there was that
 
@rdibp  
Just seems like something that I wouldn’t point out as a criticism but whatever.

That episode was so damn cute.  
Does this mean Spike got over Rarity now? Is Sparity dead? :O
 
 
@Spinny  

 
That explains why Rarity didn’t know Gabby, though.  
She was too hypnotized by that Griffon butt to remember anything else, just see her look of pure joy.

Well that wasn’t too great for the most part. Last part of the episode was alright.
 

I liked how natural everything about Gabby felt. Like, yeah it makes sense why she’d be coming to Ponyville a lot more, thanks to Gallus. And it would make sense how Spike and her would get to know each other.

@Spinny  
I didn’t like that episode because also, for some reason, Sweetie Belle was like 3/4 the size of Rarity but back to being a tiny filly afterwards.

At least they had Spike grow out of his beta-orbiter status before the end, which is nice.

@Miss Shy  
I saw more Make New Friends But Keep Discord in there rather than Forever Filly honestly and to be fair the former was a better episode than the latter.

@gingerninja666  
Even though I consider The Fault in Our Cutie Marks to be the better episode, I do like Gabby a lot more here.

So am curious is sparity dead or they left it for us to interpret to keep sparity and non sparity happy?

Also, of the many spin offs I wish MLP could’ve made. Gabby being the official mail delivery griffon for Griffonstone is one I want.
 
The perky, boundlessly optimistic mail griffon delivering mail for a bunch of assholes. Inevitably being sent to seedy places because of the types of things her asshole patrons would want delivered, and getting through it all with her kindness.

@Background Pony #EE6E  
I don’t think there was ever a serious chance of sparity becoming canon. In fact, after mulling it over, I’m pretty sure sparity is a crush that exists to be grown out of, and there are a lot of problems with it.
 
I think the first problem is idealization. If you remember back to “A Dog and Pony Show”, Spike fantasizes about being a classical knight in shining armour, and saving the damsel in distress Rarity. In reality, Rarity is able to escape the Diamond Dogs by herself. At first, I thought this was just a cute fantasy to set up the subversion, but now I think it also represents the disconnect between how Spike sees Rarity, and how she actually is. Another example is Shmarity, from Ogres and Oubliettes. It’s a fictional version of her that he can apply whatever traits he wants to. I don’t think it’s creepy, I just think it reflects a lack of emotional maturity.
 
The second problem is that he likes her for completely superficial reasons. He thinks she’s attractive, but other than their affinity for gems, they don’t have a lot in common.
 
The third problem is a fundamental misunderstanding of how relationships work. I think there’s a connecting between the knight and damsel trope and “The Friendzone”. Both play into the false idea that you can earn or win someone’s affection. The reality is that no amount of work entitles you to a relationship with someone.
 
Which brings me to Rarity. No, I don’t think she’s just taking advantage of Spike. She compensates him for his time with gems. What this does mean is that their relationship is practical and professional, but also very surface-level and materialistic. I think it’s more of an employee/employer relation, and it’s not the sort of dynamic that organically turns into a romantic relationship.
 
Just from what we’ve seen, a relationship with Gabby would be the polar opposite. But yes, I do think Spike has finally outgrown his crush on Rarity.

@DerpyFast  

 
I wonder if there’s some symbolism in that, like subtly telling us hardcore bronies to grow out of our crushes on the ponies, because it’s not ever meant to be.

@Background Pony #B837  
I don’t know why, but I support this theory

@DerpyFast  
I wouldn’t say “outgrown” as much as “moved on.” I cite “Molt Down” for this- it’s mentioned offhandedly that being around Rarity makes him stressed out, which is a very mature reaction to have around your crush. It’s not something you’d see in a silly childhood daydream- which is what it totally started as, but as he matured, so did his feelings. Rarity’s just really bad at showing that she does care for and about him (platonically or otherwise), so he eventually gave up and moved on to greener pastures.
 
@Background Pony #B837  
I don’t know. It makes sense, but I feel like if it were aimed at us it’d be a little more obvious. And don’t forget, the moral of the episode is to be okay with those you cherish spending time with others, but Spike does still help Rarity. If anything, the message to us is “don’t forget the ponies, even if there’s a new big thing.”

@DerpyFast  

I get where you’re coming from, but I’m not sure I entirely agree. True, in the case of the Diamond Dogs incident, Spike’s fantasy version of the event has her as someone needing to be saved. But as you’ll recall, Spike isn’t the only one thinking that either. None of her friends seem to think she’ll do all that well on her own, or that she’ll manage to extricate herself from the situation without help. And Spike seeing himself as the dashing hero rushing in to save his lady fair is equally likely to be about how he wants to see himself as it is to be about Rarity. He’s always had a bit of a problem with identity, after all, being (as he was for so long) a lone dragon in a pony world. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the noble knight is something he aspires to or thinks he needs to be, rather than what he already sees himself as.
 
 
@DerpyFast  

Don’t they? They’re both fairly imaginative (Spike may channel his into role playing games instead of creation, but still), they’re both known for generously helping others, they both tend to turn into monsters when greed is involved, and they’ve both had rather extreme reactions when they’ve had to share someone they care about with someone else.  
 
I actually think they have a number of potential similarities, if you go looking for them.

“Ohh, so that’s what it’s all about!” -Ponk
 
I couldn’t have been the only one thinking menage a trois when she said that at the end.

I went to recap of the episode on TV and Tropes in YMMV is said in “Wasted a good plot#“that it neither confirm or ship sunk sparity.Also some fans say they solved it without solving it to pretty much keep both sparity and non-sparity Happy.

@Background Pony #EE6E  
It’s TV Tropes, they oftentimes don’t know what they’re talking about, especially in the YMMV department.

@Background Pony #EE6E  
Often, “Wasted a perfectly good plot” = didn’t go the direction I wanted.

Still I think they didn’t confirm and ship sunk sparity to please both who and isn’t a fan of it.

@Background Pony #EE6E  
So it’s left ambiguous then

@Vivace  

 
Yeah, people make the mistake assertion of “it sucks because I didn’t get what I wanted/expected to happen” all the time.