Okay getting into Spoiler territory here.
Basically the story begins with Twilight and Starlight Glimmer finding the Mane sixβs Friendship Journal from season 4 (which apparently must have been in the library during Tirekβs attack because look how damaged it is!).
Twilight realizing that their lessons could be used to help other ponies learn about friendships decides to publish the book (with the permission of the other mane six of course), and it soon becomes a top seller.
At first Twilight is happy because she thinks a positive message is being spread, but soon finds out that the response from the books is badly effecting her friends. Rarity gets a bunch of orders for dresses cancelled because some ponies think she should have been left out of the book, Pinkie Pie canβt say a sentence without everypony laughing at her (wether she means it to be funny or not), Rainbow Dash canβt get a second alone because her fans wonβt stop bugging her about how awesome she is, Sweet Apple Acres gets overfilled with ponies wanting to be part of the Apple Family which Applejack canβt turn down because she feels that would be the same as kicking out actual family members, and a bunch of mad ponies start cornering and angrily yelling at Fluttershy becauseΒ βShe keeps learning the same lesson over and over.β
After this Fluttershy decides to defend herself.
At one point even Twilight gets a few negative comments saying that she would have been more interesting staying in Canterlot and it doesnβt make sense for her and her friends to even be friends.
This eventually becomes too much for the mane six and they end up locking themselves in Twilightβs castle for a moment while they try to figure out what to do.
This episode is basically a satire on how toxic and hateful fandoms have gotten in recent years. True there is an emphasis on MLP (Twilightβs accent into a Princess does get specifically mentioned), but there are several things parodied here that I have experienced in multiple fandoms:
*Particular hatred towards one character (Rarity getting canceled orders and having angry mobs outside her boutique).
*Overpraise of one character (Rainbow Dashβs rapid fanbase).
*Fans perceiving a character trait as being over exaggerated (Everyone laughing at everything Pinkie says even when sheβs not trying to be funny).
*Fans claiming certain elements arenβtΒ βrealisticβ enough (A critic mentioning how Twilight should have stayed in Canterlot and shouldnβt be friends with the mane six).
*Fans believing that they are entitled to everything, making huge demands (Ponies moving into Sweet Apple Acres claiming they want to be new members of the Apple Family).
*Some fans making others feel bad for liking or relating to something (This scene):
and of course:
*Fans having an argument over a disagreement and having it spiral completely out of control. (the angry crowd scene outside of Twilightβs castle).
Eventually the Mane Six have had enough and decide to make their point clear, through song.
Itβs with this song that the message is made clear.
βI never claimed to be perfect. My mistakes are all written in ink. None of us claim to be perfect and thatβs sad if thatβs what you think. Our flaws help to make us special our flaws help to make us strongβ¦β
This isnβt just representative of the characters, but of the showβs writers and production crew itself. The show is basically sayingΒ βLook, we know that the show nor the characters are perfect. Weβve made a lot of mistakes over the years, though we never tried or claimed to be perfect. Weβre just trying to spread good messages and fun stories in the best way we can. The flaws and mistakes we make help us to get better, plus without character flaws there wouldnβt be a story.β
What Iβm afraid of is that people will take this episode as the showβs way of trying to avoid criticism, when thatβs exactly the opposite of the showβs message as mentioned in the song. People are allowed to criticize all they want, theyβre allowed to love stuff however they want, but they should do it in a respectful way, not just to other fans, but to the showβs creators in general. (Also if you find yourself not liking something you donβt need to stick around and constantly complain, you can just stop watching it).
So does the crowd of angry fans finally get the point?
Nope. They just go right back to fighting.
Most accurate depiction of fandoms in any piece of media ever!
The mane six frustratingly go back in the castle, realizing these ponies just wonβt ever get the point of what they intended.
Then Starlight Glimmer comes in, bringing in two fans of the book (one being Toola Roola a character from G3) who actually have something positive to say.
The mane six are overjoyed hearing this, saying that even though theyβve had a rough time knowing that they helped out these two made it all worth it.
Now you might thinkΒ βOh, this is just the showβs way of saying we should ignore the problems cause itβs only for kidsβ, and to that I would like to point out there were actually a few foals amongst the jerky fans.
It doesnβt matter how old you are, you can still be a jerk.
I honestly like this episode because I donβt think Iβve seen any show cartoon or otherwise look at fanbases and thinkΒ βIf the characters were real and saw this, how would they react?.β Itβs a very interesting idea that I think they pulled off quite well (along with a sadly accurate depiction of fandoms nowadays).
Plus after seven seasons and over a hundred episodes I think the showβs staff is allowed one episode to blow off some steam.
It also presents a good lesson for content creators, with the mane six pointing out in the end how they canβt control theirΒ βfansβ but they can control how it effects them or how it doesnβt. There will always be fans who completely miss the point of a show, movie, game or whatever else (like the SU fandom for massively hating on Pearl after she made one mistake, how the Dream Daddy fandom ended up attacking an artist for drawing R63 fan art, or how a SU fan sent death threats to a storyboard artist for not supporting their ship), but there will always be fans who understand the message and will put it to good use and try to spread that message themselves.
Iβd better stop right here (though honestly I could write an entire book about this episode). So Iβll close with a phrase from days of old;
βRemember to love and tolerate.β
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