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Esuka β S5 E12: Strangers
#alicorn #fillies #moondancer #unicorn #mlpfim #mylittleponyfriendshipismagic #twilightsparkle #season5mylittlepony
Published: 2015-07-04 19:52:09 +0000 UTC; Views: 14637; Favourites: 526; Downloads: 269
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Alternate Title: Somepony that I Used to KnowWell this episode was a lot of fun. It was great that they called on prior events from the show, even though they were miniscule by any standard, rather than create a new memory to play off of. The unresolved tale of Moondancer's party has finally been answered! And it was quite an answer, at that. Well written, well executed, great moments of drama and humor, it was just good. It's the quality of episode that I get up in the morning for.
I'm going to go ahead and nip the Twilight Sparkle parallel conversation here. Yes, using Twilight's design, recolored, is serviceable if not particularly creative. It gives the opportunity to explore a different path, visually, that Twilight might have wandered down. Yes, her color palette is similar to Sunset Shimmer, another Twilight parallel. I think this is more of a coincidence of the colors working well in contrast to Twilight's. Yellow and purple, baby, you can't go wrong. I think, as a stand alone design, Moondancer's is excellent, and does a good job of matching her posture, her character, and her voice. But maybe I just have a thing for thick necked sweaters and shirts.
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Comments: 35
N-no? I would be surprised but pleased, if I were.
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That episode surely touched lot of fans who could possibly relate to what happened with these two. I wish we'll see more of Moondancer.
Of course, the element that distinguish them both is Moondancer's eyebrows. But I like her design.
Wonderful work
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>>>Yes, using Twilight's design, recolored, is serviceable if not particularly creative.<<<
A rather shallow way to look at it. :\ Moon Dancer looked up to Twilight and she was her best friend, so she changed her style to look similar to her.
Also miniscule? They brought us back to the very start of the show! To Twilight's start, to everything! How more memorable can they get?
How can this be miniscule?
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Well yeah pretty mutch how Scootaloo is looking up for Rainbow Dash.
This might be a bit off but I was kinda wondering for a while what will happen to Scoot when Rainbow Dash gets into th wonderbolts? Just wondering becouse of the similarities.
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I did not get the impression that Moondancer looked up to Twilight, but rather that they were equal in most regards. It was a mirror approach.
As for the miniscule note, the mention of the party in the first episode was a small scene used to explain Twilight's nature. It was overshadowed by the unfolding threat of Nightmare Moon, and never really stood out as anything important unto itself. So yes, I consider that a very minor detail.
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But you didn't have to cut me off.Β Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing.Β And I don't even need your love.Β But you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough.Β No, you didn't have to stoop so low.Β Have your friends collect your records and then change your number.Β I guess that I don't need that, though.Β Now you're just somebody that I used to know.
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That... actually fits with the first-half of the episode. :u
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I just went with it because it's the chorus to the songΒ theΒ alternate title alludes to.
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Glad they didn't name Moondancer some sort of play on Twiight's name like they do with all the other new unicorn characters...
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This Deviation was featured in the following Equestria Daily Post www.equestriadaily.com/2015/07β¦ Thank you for providing pony material for all of us to enjoy 
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Um...why? I don't see why she shouldn't have. It wasn't THAT big of a deal.
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Because trolling. MoppyPuppy writes unsetting or controversial comments like that under every fanart based on an episode.
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You've got to look at it from Moon Dancer's perspective.
Imagine if you've never really gotten along with other people, or you're moving to a new town or something has you feeling like you're completely alone in the world, and along comes someone that you can relate to. Someone that you have a lot in common with. Someone that, at times, it can feel like you're practically looking in a mirror when you're with them. They're the best friend you've ever had, and they mean the world to you. Everyone else on the planet could be wiped out tomorrow, but as long as that one person is in your life, you could live forever.
Now imagine that because of that one person, you finally feel like you're ready to open up and get to know more people. You plan this one big party that you were gonna spend getting to know all of these new people and having a great time with your best friend, but they don't show up. They don't show up to the biggest day that you can remember. It seems like no big deal at first, but then days and days go by and you still haven't heard from them. You try contacting them to see what has them so busy, but they still don't answer. You feel like you've been abandoned by the one person that you thought really cared about you.
Soon, you stop talking to your other friends, because it's just not the same without them. You spend more and more time by yourself, and you throw yourself into something that makes you happy. Something that helps you forget about the pain. After a while, that's all you want to do. You spend all of your time looking for something to fill the void that that person left in your life, but no matter what you do, you still feel miserable. You think about going back and talking to your other friends, but none of them really understand you like they did. It's just not the same.
Then, you hear about big things happening in their lives. All the new friends they've made. All the adventures they've had. All the things that they've done since they left. It makes you wonder, was I ever really important to them? Did our friendship ever really mean anything to them, or was I just someone they kept around to stay entertained. Do they even remember I was their friend? Do they know how much pain they've caused me, and if they did, would they care?
You get mad. You want to scream at them. You want to beat them up. You want to make sure that they know exactly how much pain that they've caused you. You hate seeing their name. You wish you'd never met them. You don't care what it takes, but you want the pain to go away. In reality, all you want is your friend back. You want to feel like they still care about you. You want to feel like you still matter to them, because if you still matter to the person that you connected with from the very beginning, you feel like you matter to other people too.
When you only have about 22 minutes to express all of this through a character, it's a little difficult to get the full effect, but for me, it was like watching a replay of some of my own experiences. This kind of stuff hurts to go through. I can't tell you how many nights I've spent, sitting at my desk, staring at the computer screen, just waiting and hoping that that one good friend would get online, and we could talk again like the old days, but having to go to bed disappointed yet again. I can't tell you how many times that I've shut out the rest of the world and laid in bed all day because I was too depressed to even lift the covers. When you find that one person that you connect with right from the start, and they just abandon you, it's like they dropped a bomb on your life and left you behind to pick up the pieces. It's hard to understand something like that unless you've gone through it...
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I'll be honest..I didn't quite think of it that way, and you brought up alot of good points. However, I still feel it was right of her to forgive twilight.
It may not seem it, but I relate fully.
I once had that special kind of friend who I thought cared about me.
We were practically inseparable for years. But one day, she moved away without even a warning or a goodbye. By the time I had heard about it, she was already long gone.Β It's been almost 7 years since i've spoken to her.
Recently, I attended a wedding and she happened to be there. However, she was surronded by her family and new friends the entire time. I approached her many times, but she never spoke a word to me. And I can tell you, it really hurt... I thought I meant something to her, but she never even bothered to contact me during the 7 years, never bothered to include me in chats during that day. It was hard seeing her with new friends.Β
I've been without a best friend for a long time. Heck, I have no friends in my every day life to begin with. I've been a very lonely person. And much like moon dancer, i'm not a very outgoing person. Even if I tried many times to go out of my shell and find new friends, I couldn't find anyine I related to. And its even harder when you have your family nagging on you to try harder.
I guess what i'm saying is...I know it's tough. Theres nights I go to bed depressed and sobbing over the subject. But I feel everyone deserves a second chance. What Twilight did was dead wrong, but you should never turn down somebody who wants to make things right with you. If they mess up again, then thats their own fault. But I believe everyone deserves at least a second chance.
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I mean, I'm not saying that she shouldn't have forgiven Twilight. I feel like it would've been the last thing she wanted to do at the time, and she probably felt afraid to forgive her, because she didn't want her to leave again. I feel like in the end, it was right of her to forgive Twilight, but I think it was a lot harder for her to do than it seemed.
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But then what could Moondancer hope to achieve by holding on to all those negative feelings? What Twilight did was pretty shitty, no doubt, but if Moondancer isn't willing to forgive, then how is that any better than what Twilight did? Isn't one of the qualities of being a good friend being able to forgive, especially when that person is trying desperately to right their wrongs, as Twilight was?
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I love how they brought a very small section of the first episode and made it into an interesting story, fantastic!
I love this drawing!Β Β
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when I heard what this episode was gonna be about, here's what I said: "Uh.... Twilight? You didn't haveΒ any friends before you moved to Ponyville, remember?"
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I remember Spike mentioning in the first episode that he had a gift for Moon Dancer, but I did not expect Moon Dancer to look like that. I expected she was going to be a blue pony because whenever I hear a pony's name with the world "Moon" in it, I expect him or her to be blue.
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At begin, I thought she was her imaginary friend
Good episode thou.
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It was a good episode. When I first watched it, I thought it was a little, well, boring, but after watching it a second time I realized how good it actually was. I don't know why, but I tend to do that a lot. Anyway, I totally predicted Twilight's old friends being completely okay with Twilight ditching them in the past, but since I'd never seen Moondancer, I had no idea what she'd be like. I had always just assumed that she was just like Twilight's other old friends - happy, social, friendly - and that the party she invited her friends to in the series opener was nothing special. Boy, was I wrong. It never even occurred to me that she'd be just like Twilight used to be and that that party was her first one ever. Larson, you've done it again.
I disagree with the people who say that Moondancer overreacted in the past because I know what that sort of thing feels like, but I'm afraid I have to agree with everyone who's saying that Twilight was being arrogant when she automatically assumed that she had ruined all her old friends' lives by leaving them without even saying goodbye. Only Moondancer took it personally, the others were just fine. The world doesn't revolve around Twilight and I hate it when people claim that it does so in the show, so imagine how much I hated it when Twilight herself seemed to think that she's the center of the universe in this episode. Luckily that's never happened before and I truly believe that she'll never be so arrogant again.
Continuity is not nearly as rare in MLP as some people seem to think it is by acting so surprised whenever there are references to older episodes, so I could see the callbacks to the first episode coming. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see Twilight's other flashbacks. I got the impression that she was actually closer to Moondancer than any of the others as a filly, because they had so much in common. Of course, she still never even invited her to her home, so I can completely understand Moondancer's resentment in the present. I thought Twilight should just leave Moondancer alone at some parts, but of course, the Princess of Friendship wouldn't be doing her job if she gave up like that, so I knew that those two would reconcile in the end. Thankfully it was executed quite well. Moondancer's breakdown wasn't nowhere near as cringe-worthy as Rainbow Dash's in Tanks for the Memories. I actually felt sorry for her.
Twinkleshine, Minuette and Lemon Hearts were adorable and Larson even managed to explain their common appearances in Ponyville - they go there to visit Lyra! I guess Lyra must have moved to Ponyville very soon after Twilight because she was seen at the Summer Sun Celebration and I assume that's when she decided to make her new home in Ponyville. Heck, maybe she met Bon Bon at the SSC and immediately fell in love with her. It's a sappy theory, but completely possible.
Spike was written well in the episode too. He certainly is as honest as Applejack, but unlike her, he's never afraid to speak out even the harshest of truths. I just love that guy. I don't know what Twilight would do without him.
All in all, a very nice episode, definitely the best since Slice of Life. 9/10.
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All I can say in response to this is...right. Exactly right.
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Such a great episode. Seeing Moondancer cry because of how she felt about that party just really punched me in the heart
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